Regulatory Alerts1992-08-12
Notice No. 6/92 of August 12, 1992
The National Bank of Angola issued Notice No. 6/92 to establish special regulatory rules for the operation, authorization, and oversight of exchange houses. The notice mandates that these entities operate exclusively in foreign currency and traveler's check transactions, maintain a minimum paid-up capital of NKZ 5,000,000.00, and secure prior approval for qualified shareholdings and new branch openings. It further outlines strict conditions for authorization revocation, mandates pre-activity registration, and requires compliance with specific accounting, reporting, and exchange position limits set by the central bank.
NOTICE NO. 6/92 OF AUGUST 12 The National Bank of Angola, with a view to establishing special rules for the operation of exchange houses, in exercise of the competence attributed to it by Article 42 of Law 4/91, the Organic Law of the National Bank of Angola, and by paragraph c) of Article 16 of the same Law, DETERMINES: ARTICLE 1 Exchange houses shall have as their exclusive purpose the purchase and sale of foreign banknotes or currency or traveler's checks, in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Article of this Notice. ARTICLE 2 For their authorization, the entities referred to in the preceding article must satisfy the following requirements: a) have as their exclusive purpose the purchase and sale of foreign banknotes or currency or traveler's checks; b) adopt the form of a public limited company or a limited liability company; c) have a paid-up share capital of no less than NKZ 5,000,000.00; d) include the expression "exchange house" in their corporate name; e) be persons of good repute, the partners with qualified holdings in the respective share capital, as referred to in Art. 6, as well as the managing directors, managers, or members of the Supervisory Board. ARTICLE 3 Authorization applications must be submitted to the National Bank of Angola, accompanied by the following documents: a) indication of the headquarters and location or locations where the opening of counters is planned; b) articles of association or respective draft statutes; c) personal and professional identification of the partners, specifying their respective shareholdings in the capital, and of the administrators, directors, managers, and members of the Supervisory Board. d) a sworn declaration by each partner with a qualified holding in the respective share capital that neither they nor any companies or enterprises over which they have ensured control or in which they have served as administrators, directors, or managers have been declared insolvent or bankrupt.
ARTICLE 4 The National Bank of Angola may request from the interested parties other elements that it considers appropriate for the processing of the application. ARTICLE 5 A holding is considered qualified if its nominal value represents, directly or indirectly, at least 10% of the respective share capital or voting rights. ARTICLE 6
The acquisition of shares that results in the acquirer holding a qualified participation in the capital of an exchange house requires prior authorization from the National Bank of Angola. ARTICLE 7 The authorization to conduct exchange business shall lapse if the applicants renounce it, as well as if the exchange house does not commence operations within one year from the date of grant. ARTICLE 8 The authorization to conduct exchange business may be revoked when the following occurs: a) absence of any of the requirements required for the grant of authorization; b) cessation or significant reduction of activity for a period exceeding six months; c) existence of infractions in management and internal accounting organization of that entity; d) non-compliance with the rules and regulations transmitted by the National Bank of Angola; e) lack of guarantee of regular fulfillment of its obligations to creditors ; ARTICLE 9 Exchange houses are subject to registration with the National Bank of Angola, which must be made at least one month before the commencement of their activity. ARTICLE 10 In addition to others that may subsequently be indicated by the National Bank of Angola, exchange houses may carry out purchase and sale operations of foreign banknotes or currency, or traveler's checks under the conditions set out in the following paragraphs.
- In operations with residents, they may: a) sell foreign banknotes or currency or traveler's checks for Kwanzas intended for the payment of expenses related to travel abroad in accordance with the regulations of the Floating Rate Foreign Exchange Market;
b) purchase foreign banknotes or currency or traveler's checks for Kwanzas. 3. In operations with non-residents, they may: a) purchase foreign banknotes, currency, and traveler's checks for Kwanzas; b) sell foreign banknotes or currency or traveler's checks for remaining Kwanzas, in accordance with the regulations of the Floating Rate Foreign Exchange Market. ARTICLE 11 The National Bank of Angola shall issue the technical instructions deemed appropriate for the execution of this Notice. ARTICLE 12 The National Bank of Angola may define for each exchange house the limits of their respective exchange positions and the destination to be given to amounts that exceed them. ARTICLE 13 In addition to other obligations imposed by Law, the chart of accounts, the organization of balance sheets and other documents, as well as the valuation of the patrimonial elements of exchange houses, must comply with the instructions of the National Bank of Angola. ARTICLE 14 Exchange houses must send to the National Bank of Angola, in accordance with the rules and technical instructions transmitted by it within the timeframes fixed by it, the accounting elements for statistical or other information requested of them. ARTICLE 15
The opening of new counters by exchange houses in localities where they do not maintain a counter requires special and prior authorization from the National Bank of Angola.