Saambou customers as well as customers of the bank's online banking arm, 20twenty, will have to hang in there until Thursday (February 14) before they can access any of their money. But the good news is that small depositors will be first in line to access their money.
All accounts - both investment and transaction - were frozen when the bank was placed under curatorship last weekend.
The bank was placed under curatorship after a loss of confidence by Saambou investors. Saambou's share price took a dive to an annual low of R1.20 on Wednesday last week, from an annual high of R13.50 in May last year. This led to a run on the bank, with R1 billion leaving the bank's coffers on Thursday afternoon and on Friday.
Errol Kruger, the deputy Registrar of Banks, says that late on Friday night a decision was taken jointly by the Reserve Bank and Saambou that a curatorship was the best way of protecting the interests of depositors.
The duty of the curator, John Louw, of auditing firm KPMG, is to manage the bank in an orderly fashion and to deal with the liquidity problem that Saambou faces. A liquidity problem arises when a bank does not have enough cash on hand to pay out all its depositors at once.
Saambou branches and automatic teller machines (ATMs) have been closed to the public since Saturday as has the 20twenty website and call centre.
Access to your money
Whether you can access your money at Saambou depends on whether your money was deposited before or after the start of the curatorship at 1pm on Saturday, February 9:
- If you had money at Saambou prior to Saturday, your money has been frozen since Saturday:
- Customers who have investment accounts with balances of R4 000 or less will be able to withdraw the full amount from Thursday this week.
- If you have transmission accounts, such as Saambou's Money Manager account, or savings-type accounts, such as Carry On, Tempo, Kolskoot or Savings, or a 20twenty account, you will be able to withdraw such deposits up to a maximum of R4 000.
- You will be able to access the full amount of any deposits, such as salaries, paid in after the curatorship was imposed on Saturday.
Kruger says it is likely that Saambou clients will be able to access their money in the usual ways once the curator announces that withdrawals can be made. In other words, cash can be withdrawn from a Saambou branch or ATM. Cash can also be transferred out of an account into another account via the internet.