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Standard Chartered Zimbabwe has announced its new CEO, Mubaiwa Mubayiwa after the dismissal of Ralph Watungwa on allegations of misconduct.
Watungwa was suspended on allegations of abuse of a foreign currency auction run by the central bank, as well as improperly authorising renovations at the banks building.
Mubayiwa was Standard Chartered Zimbabwe Head Commercial Banking in 2015.
The Bank said the appointment of Mubayiwa during the time Stanchart plc is exiting Zimbabwe and other markets is critical in ensuring a smooth transition of the process.
StanChart’s local unit is the oldest financial institution in Zimbabwe, founded in 1892 in a tent in Bulawayo two years after an expedition backed by Cecil John Rhodes set up a presence in the country.
StanChart now has 390 employees in the country with its head office in Harare , after 130 years in the country StanChart last week announced that it is leaving Zimbabwe among other countries which includes Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, Jordan, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and also its retail banking units in Tanzania and Ivory Coast.
The Bank announced that the decision to close some of its banks is to reduce costs and to focus on its corporate banking.
Standard Chartered is the oldest financial institution in the country, having first set up in 1892 as Standard Bank in Bulawayo. In 1969, the bank merged with Chartered Bank and was fully incorporated in Zimbabwe in 1983.
The group will now look to find a buyer for the bank. In June 2021, StanChart Zimbabwe had assets of Z$17.8 billion. The bank accounts for just 3.25% of all bank loans on the market, according to central bank data.
In 2019, StanChart was fined US$18 million by the US government for violating American sanctions on Zimbabwe by handling transactions for state-owned firms and sanctioned individuals.
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