RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on Thursday suspended the operating licences of two bureau de changes, namely Crediconnect and Cash Twenty-Four for engaging in illicit foreign currency transactions.
The licences were suspended with immediate effect after the apex bank gathered information that the two firms were involved in illicit forex trading that bled the economy.
This comes after Zimbabwean dollar collapsed against the United States dollar on the country’s black market.
On Thursday morning, it took ZWL$45 to buy one US dollar hard currency note on Harare’s black market exchanges.
A week ago, around ZWL$35 bought one US dollar note on the black market.
“The RBZ wishes to advise the public of the suspension with immediate effect of the operating licences of Cash-Twenty-Four and Crediconnect (Private) Limited,” read a notice by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya on Thursday.
Mangudya said the central bank is in possession of information showing that the two firms were engaging in illicit forex transactions.
The suspension is pending further investigations with the worst case scenario being cancellation of licence or criminal prosecution.
Lately, RBZ has tightened screws on the operations of financial institutions to minimise forex leakages that have had adverse effect on the fiscus.
