Reports have emerged that the Bank of Zambia (BOZ) has rejected the request to approve the merger between Access Bank Zambia and Atlas Mara Zambia, leaving affected stakeholders, clients and employees in limbo on the way forward.
An impeccable source with knowledge of the merger transaction stated that the request to BOZ to approve the transaction was tantamount to asking the regulator to approve an illegality. There are some serious insider dealing issues which BOZ is aware of which has made it difficult for the regulator to approve.
In response to a query from the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, the Bank of Zambia – BOZ has refused to confirm the report but instead asked that the affected banks confirm the status of the transaction. BOZ stated that as the supervisor of the financial sector with a mandate to safeguard financial system stability, BOZ does not provide bank specific information on supervisory and regulatory matters.
BOZ explained that in this regard, the relevant institutions or bank were in the best position to provide specific information. However, efforts to get a comment on the matter from both Access Bank and Atlas Mara proved futile by press time.
In 2021, Access Bank Group, straight from acquiring another local bank – Cavmont bank in Zambia announced that it had intentions to grow its Zambian business by merging with Atlas Mara. On 25 October 2021, the West African Bank announced that it would be merging its Zambian operations-Access Bank Zambia and Atlas Mara Zambia and the enlarged operation would be called Access Bank Zambia.
According to a statement seen by the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Access Bank Group CEO Herbert Wigwe said, “This transaction is a milestone that brings us closer to our broader strategic objectives. The merger of Atlas Mara Zambia and Access Bank Zambia is expected to augment our presence in Zambia and the wider COMESA region”.
The Access Bank Group CEO also hinted that its newly recruited Country Manager Lishala Situmbeko would lead the merged entity, which effectively means that this may be at the expense of the Atlas Mara top management team.
Wigwe noted that, “We are excited with the increased earnings contribution from the enlarged Access Bank Zambia which has also appointed its new Managing Director Lishala Situmbeko”. This transaction is now almost one year and no approvals have been made by BOZ indicating that there are some reservations from the central bank.
