Good afternoon. Among the new president of Mozambique’s many jobs next year will be to consider what to do with Rogério Zandamela, the governor of the Bank of Mozambique. The governor is serving a second five-year term which expires in 2026, but quite a few people would be happy to see him gone sooner. If Zandamela is disliked by some businesses because of his high interest rates, then he is hated by many bankers on account of his bullying and interference of the banks he is supposed to regulate.
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A further sign of this emerged yesterday, when the central bank announced that it was to install a resident inspector at Absa Bank in Mozambique (see below). All of Mozambique’s major banks now have such an inspector. But why? They are not particularly badly run or engaged in massive money laundering. But moderation is not Zandamela’s style. His nickname has long been “the sheriff”, due to his tendency to shoot before asking questions. As we have noted in the past, some of his enforcement actions seem to have been motivated by revenge rather than upholding rules, as with his campaign against the management of BCI, where he tried unsuccessfully to have the bank’s chief executive blacklisted and vindictively refused to approve board appointments.
