Saambou is not insolvent, but is facing a liquidity crunch only, John Louw, the curator of the bank, says.
Nervous investors withdrew R1 billion from Saambou late on Thursday afternoon and on Friday, after the bank's share price collapsed during the week because of a loss of confidence in the bank by investors. General negative market perceptions about institutions involved in the microlending sector was the cause of disinvestment in Saambou. The bank is involved with microlending through Thuthukani.
In a statement, Louw, of auditing firm KPMG, says recent market conditions and an abnormal outflow of funds from the bank late last week resulted in Saambou experiencing difficulties in maintaining its required levels of liquidity (meaning the bank will not be able to pay depositors their money if they all demand their money at once).
The statement was posted on the website of Saambou's online banking arm, 20Twenty ( www.20twenty.com).
As a result, Trevor Manuel, the Minister of Finance, placed the bank under curatorship from 1pm on Saturday.
Based on information from the Banking Registrar, Louw says there is no reason to deduce that Saambou is insolvent.
The benefit of the curatorship is that it will facilitate the orderly management of the bank, including the management of the bank's liquidity situation, he says.
The immediate effects of the curatorship Saambou's branch offices nationwide will be closed to the public for a short period to give the curator the opportunity to review the situation and to decide when to re-open branches to the public for business.
In the meantime, Saambou will continue to conduct normal banking business, except that:
- Deposits, including interest accrued to the date of curatorship, have been
frozen;
- Any monies deposited after 1pm on February 9, 2002 will be freely available;
- All homeloans in the process of registration where guarantees have been issued will be honoured;
- All other cash payouts will be restricted and placed under direct control of the curator; and
- The bank cannot do new business until the curator has issued further instructions.
Mechanisms will be put in place during the forthcoming week to allow depositors access to a portion of their funds. Details will be announced shortly, Louw says.
In terms of the curatorship, only the curator is allowed to comment to the media. Personal Finance is awaiting his replies to a list of questions.
Saambou has said it will keep investors and account-holders up to date with the latest developments on its website ( www.saambou.co.za).