The Botswana Central Bank, Bank of Botswana, has taken over the operations of struggling Kingdom Bank Africa Limited.

It has also barred any new deposits or withdrawals by the bank’s clients. “No deposits or withdrawals will be permitted during this period and Kingdom Bank cannot extend any new loans,” said Bank of Botswana Head of Communications a, Andrew Sesinyi a statement on Friday.

In 2012, Zimbabwe-based Kingdom Bank suffered its first setback when its subsidiary, Kingdom Finance, was forced to scale down operations and retrenched staff.

Kingdom Bank  group was founded in 1995 by Zimbabwean prominent banker, Nigel Chanakira. Four years later, the group entered into a merger with DCZ Holdings Limited, the holding company for the Discount house of
Zimbabwe Limited.

Following the merger the new group changed its name to Kingdom Financial Holdings Limited. The Mauritius-based AfrAsia Bank Ltd later become a majority shareholder in the bank after investing $9.5 million in Kingdom Financial Holdings Ltd. It was then renamed to Kingdom Bank Africa Limited.

By George Mpofu