In the Bank of Mozambique’s report on Prudential and Economic-Financial Indicators, BNI – which is on the central bank’s list of institutions with fewer than 1,000 clients – closed the third quarter with a non-performing loan ratio (NPL) of 41.09%, but which rose to 52.4% in the first quarter.
The commercial banks on the central bank’s list also include Ecobank, with an NPL ratio of 43.78 % (33.88% in the first quarter), Moza Banco, with a ratio of 23.69%, and Access Bank, with a ratio of 17.92%.
From the list released by the central bank, based on data provided by the financial institutions themselves, only United Bank for Africa (UBA), First National Bank (FNB), Standard Bank and First Capital Bank (FCB) have an NPL ratio lower than the recommended 5%, at 1.74%, 2.30%, 3.50% and 4.06% respectively.
Millennium BIM, one of the country’s largest and led by Portugal’s BCP, saw its non-performing loan ratio reach 5.27% in the last quarter, while BCI, led by Caixa Geral de Depósitos, reached 9.97%.
In November 2023, the governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Lucas Zandamela, said that the Mozambican banking sector was ‘solid and well capitalised’ but warned that non-performing loans remained at high levels.
Data from the central bank indicates that 15 commercial banks and 12 microbanks currently operate in Mozambique, as well as credit cooperatives and savings and credit organisations.
