Consumers demonstrate over high bank rates in Malawi
By Nyasa Times
Published: April 21, 2010
Representatives of the Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) on Wednesday staged a peaceful demonstration and presented a petition the Reserve Bank Governor, Perks Ligoya (pictured), and President of the Bankers Association of Malawi over high interest rates offered by the country’s financial institutions.
CAMA’s projects manager, Christopher Mpanga said the petition asks the central bank to address issues of consumer exploitation by the financial institutions. “The issues that we are trying to address are issues to do with high bank charges, high interest rates and also to do with ATM charges which are exploiting consumers,” said Mpanga.
He said the petition has also highlighted the plea to have banking services in the rural areas.
“We would like banks to serve the people in rural areas as well as urban areas,” he said
“We expect RBM to call upon all financial institutions to bang heads and lead to reduction of interest services and bank rates.”
He also the petition has also expressed concerns on collateral the banks ask for consumers to obtain loans.
“We are looking at other avenues which the banks can try to exploit in terms of collaterals.”
He said consumers are not given enough time to use the money or make any profits through the loans, as such they do not realize any gains in the services.
Labels: CAMA, LENDING RATES, PERKS LIGOYA
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SADC must regulate financial markets says -Ligoya
By Nyasa Times
Published: September 17, 2009
The Southern African Development Community must maintain a high standard of financial markets’ regulation to limit the impact of the global economic crisis, Malawi’s central bank Governor Perks Ligoya said on Thursday.
Ligoya told financial sector professionals from the 15 member countries of the SADC that recent global developments highlight the importance of effective regulatory regimes in capital markets.
“Many countries in the developed world are now calling for a review of the regulatory infrastructure because the general feeling is that (ineffective regulation) caused the financial crisis,” Ligoya said.
The world economy is in a recession brought on by a financial markets’ crisis that has its roots in the sub-prime mortgage industry in the United States.
This week marks a year since the failure of large investment bank Lehman Brothers, which spread panick and exacerbated the global slowdown.
Ligoya said misguided regulation can have adverse impact on the financial sector and economies in the region.
“It is for this reason that SADC must maintain high standards of regulation for our financial markets,” said Ligoya, who was appointed as governor for the central bank on Monday.
The global economic slowdown has hit the world’s poorest continent and international financial institutions slashed Africa’s growth rates from around seven percent to below two percent.
The SADC Committee of Insurance, Securities and Non-Banking Financial Authorities is meeting in Malawi to discuss the impact of the global financial crisis in the region and harmonise legislation of capital markets.–Reuters (Editing by Phumza Macanda)
Labels: FINANCIAL CRISIS, GREAT DEPRESSION II, PERKS LIGOYA, REGULATION, SADC
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