Banco BIC may lose its license in Namibia because of Isabelle dos Santos

BIC Bank risks having its license revoked in Namibia because the country’s authorities believe one of its shareholders is not eligible, the executive chairman of the Angolan institution told Lusa on Friday.

“When political problems begin and when someone is stepped on, let’s say all the doors are closed, and there comes a moment when we are. At the level of Namibia, for example, we are under strong pressure, we are almost threatened with losing our licenses because of our shareholder.

Angolan businesswoman and daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos, Isabel dos Santos, whose shares were confiscated by an Angolan court, is the controlling shareholder of BIC through Sociedade de Participações Financeiras (25%) and Finisantoro Holding Limited (17.5%).

“In Namibia, our shareholder was deemed ‘unsuitable and unsuitable’. [‘não adequado e idóneo’] and believe that it cannot have a direct or indirect involvement in Namibia,” a BIC spokesman said.

“We are trying to find a solution, an attempt at a solution is underway,” the manager said, declining to reveal what scenarios are being considered.

BIC has six branches in Namibia and, according to Hugo Teles, activities have grown rapidly, especially in the border areas where 80% of Namibia’s population lives.

“There is a significant amount of business here, and it is near the border with Angola. This is an area where English-speaking banks do not like to position themselves, but here we feel good and know how to work. We thought we could prove ourselves in Namibia,” he told Lusa.

Hugo Teles said the bank had no information about the lawsuit since the seizure of the shares, but acknowledged that the situation was inconvenient.

“This does not bother us, it is our shareholder who will have to resolve this situation. I do not hide the fact that she causes us certain inconveniences, namely in relations [bancos] correspondents [bancos que prestam serviços a outros bancos]causes a lot of trouble,” he said.

“Basically, we have not been able to open more accounts with correspondents, we are still prevented from working in dollars,” said the executive president of BIC.

Hugo Teles, who was one of the speakers at a roundtable on the impact of privatization and listing of commercial banks at the XIII Banca Forum, organized by the weekly newspaper Expansão in Luanda, believes that this is not an immediate priority for BIC.

“We are capitalized, we are focused on lending to individuals and companies, and we do not need to seek financing,” he justified.

However, he acknowledged that some shareholders may “push” them into the stock market, because “the capital of one of the shareholders is arrested,” but the strategy involves “continuing to use capital to provide credit.”

When asked about the devaluation of the kwanzaa, he confirmed the impact on the bank, mainly because “there are a lot of companies that are experiencing some difficulties”, and thought that everything would be easier, namely for customers, if there was an alert.

“We already knew it would happen, but we didn’t know when,” Hugo Teles said, stressing that banks could have been consulted ahead of time and could help the economy “suffer less from these shocks.”

Apart from Angolan BIC, Isabel dos Santos is also a shareholder of Portuguese EuroBic with a 47.5% share and Fernando Teles is the other majority shareholder.

This financial institution, implicated in the Luanda Leaks scandal, was used to allegedly embezzle money belonging to the Angolan state oil company Sonangol.