By Wires
HARARE – BANCABC has dismissed nine senior managers with a combined 102 years at the bank, in controversial circumstances that market analysts and fellow bankers say was systematic and well planned to avoid paying them combined exit packages amounting to over US$6 million.
According to correspondence seen, the managers who have been with the bank for close to two decades and some clerks who also got fired stand to receive not less than half a million each as a golden hand shake, a situation which will see the financial institution paying close to six million USD for this exercise.
Information obtained showed that the bank engaged the service of a prominent lawyer who was paid over US$235 000 to systematically deal with a cocktail of allegations levelled against each of the dismissed managers which ranged from failure to exercise due diligence, nepotism, conflicts of interest, loans and alleged restructuring.
“Most of the alleged charges were not factual and did not hold water as some senior managers not targeted on this exercise approved some of the transactions and paper work. They also should have been fired if the process was transparent and done in good faith,” an insider said.
The nine managers have since been replaced by executives whose remuneration is said to be far less than those shown the exit door.
“What is surprising is that during the kangaroo courts many charges levelled against the managers were dismissed only to resurface on the final draft. It sure was a delayed match from the beginning. They just wanted them out,” an insider said over the weekend.
The respondents received documents that revealed that they were going to be suspended without pay for alleged offences they committed that were bespoke to each one.
This was also followed up by an immediate suspension without pay until hearings were conducted to process their exit from the company.
The alleged “pre-determined hearings” were done with all the managers dismissed.
“It is now an open secret that there is an instruction somewhere to get rid of managers that could “costs” the company as a pending restructuring is looming following the appointment of a new MD (Tawanda Munaiwa) last month. These new shareholders just do not want to pay,” another source as the bank said.
Some bankers have questions why BancABC sold all their other subsidiaries including Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique which affected employees paid their full terminal benefits unlike in Zimbabwe where they resorted to “kangaroo courts with predetermined outcomes”.
This is happening after the bank recorded an inflation adjusted profit after tax of ZWL$118,6 billion for the period ended June 30, 2023, up 641 percent from ZWL$16 billion for the period ended June 30, 2022.
The results were prepared in ZWL$ for easy comparison on a year-to-year basis, although the new currency Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) was introduced on 8 April.
The performance was driven by growth in total income, which rose to ZWL$234,5 billion during the reporting period from ZWL$56,9 billion reported in June 2022, but will not be enough to meet the exit packages as they will leave the bank in an unsound financial position hence the “unfair dismissals” of the managers.
The bank’s key income drivers currently are currency revaluation gains, foreign currency-based income, digital income and fair value gains on investment properties.
ABC Holdings, the parent company of pan African banking group BancABC, was bought by Atlas Mara.
Atlas Mara was founded by ex-Barclays Plc chief executive Bob Diamond and billionaire Ashish Thakkar.