ZB hails sanctions delisting

Published: 20 September 2017

ZB FINANCIAL Holdings (ZB) has lauded the United States' decision to remove the institution from the sanctions list, saying the move re-opened avenues to work with other financial institutions across the globe.

The US imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in the early 2000s, targeted at President Robert Mugabe and his cronies, including State-run organisations.

ZB, with several subsidiaries including a banking unit - ZB Bank, was among the government institutions slapped with the restrictive measures.

ZB Bank's head of corporate services, Shadowsight Chiganze, told journalists here that the sanctions had severely undermined the institution's operations.

"Since our removal from the sanctions list in October last year, we have been able to re-open our relationships with correspondent banks in Europe and other parts of the globe.

"This has facilitated smooth flow of foreign currency transactions in US dollar, Euro, Rand and several other currencies," he said over the weekend.

"We are currently working on a facility with regional banks. This facility we are sure will facilitate business, particularly for those that are exporting," Chiganze said.

ZB, along with other government-owned banks such as Agribank and the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe, were removed from the sanctions list in October last year by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Meanwhile, ZB over the weekend launched its housing programme in Plumtree, where it unveiled 780 stands at George Silundika Extension.

"We have been pursuing a strategy to acquire land and have been negotiating with various local authorities that have got land available for housing development," Chinganze said.

Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony in Plumtree, ZB chief executive Ron Mutandagayi said: "The land bank which we as ZB has purchased is made up of 708 stands of which 366 are in the high density with the balance of 342 being in the medium density suburbs."

He said the ceremony marked the commencement of servicing of the stands through the provision of roads, sewer and electricity infrastructure and construction of model homes for the Plumtree community.

"The focus of this project is to build the community by providing affordable housing and the project is anticipated to be complete by April 2018," Mutandagayi said.
- dailynews