Bank of Zambia Changes to Operational Structure (CB Circular No. 06/2024)

[Logo: Bank of Zambia]

Bank of Zambia

OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR - OPERATIONS

BOZ/EXEC/DGO/scm/bp

March 14, 2024

CB Circular No. : 06/2024

To : All Heads of Commercial Banks All Heads of Deposit Taking Non-Bank Financial Institutions All Heads of Non-Deposit Taking Financial Institutions All Heads of Payment System Institutions

CHANGES TO THE OPERATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE BANK

The Bank of Zambia has implemented measures to strengthen its monetary and supervisory functions in response to the dynamic landscape of the economy and the financial sector.

In view of the foregoing, effective January 1, 2024, the following changes to the operational structures of the Bank have been made:

1. The Bank Supervision Department has been renamed as the Prudential Supervision Department. The re-constituted department will supervise all commercial banks and deposit-taking non-bank financial institutions. In this regard, all the prudential reporting requirements applicable to commercial banks will also apply to the deposit-taking non-bank financial institutions. In addition, deposit-taking non-bank financial institutions should henceforth, submit all prudential returns and correspondences to Prudential Supervision Department via the Bank Supervision application (BSA) portal.

2. A Deposit Protection Division has been established within the Prudential Supervision Department. The Division is to establish a Deposit Protection Fund which will serve to safeguard depositors’ funds in the event of insolvency or failure.

3. The Non-Banks Financial Institutions Supervision Department has been renamed Financial Conduct Supervision Department. This Department will focus on regulating the financial services and markets to ensure consumer protection and thereby maintain and preserve the integrity of the financial sector. In addition, the Department will be responsible for the licensing and regulation of all non-deposit taking financial institutions as well as the regulation and supervision of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism for all regulated financial service providers.

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Bank Square, Cairo Road, P.O. Box 30080, Lusaka, Zambia Tel:+260-211-399303, 399300, E-mail: dgo@boz.zm. Web: http://www.boz.zm

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CB Circular No. 06/2024 - 2 - March 14, 2024

4. In line with the expanded mandate arising from the enactment of the BOZ Act, 2022, the Bank has established a new department called the Financial Stability Department. The principal mandate of the Financial Stability Department is to implement macro-prudential policy on behalf of the Bank and support the newly established Financial Stability Committee.

5. The Economics Department has been split into two separate entities: Research Department, and Statistics Departments. The responsibilities of the Research Department include undertaking research on relevant economic issues to provide conceptual and empirical basis for monetary policy-decisions, developing and maintaining economic models for forecasting and policy analysis, producing analytical reports to inform monetary policy decisions and the public as well as providing advice on economic matters The Statistics Department is responsible for compiling and disseminating external and monetary sector statistics, conducting surveys, and managing the database for the Bank.

[Signature]

Francis Chipimo (PhD) DEPUTY GOVERNOR – OPERATIONS

cc Governor Deputy Governor – Administration Director – Prudential Supervision Director – Financial Conduct Supervision Director – Financial Stability Director – Research Director – Statistics Director – Payment Systems Director – Financial Markets Director – Banking and Currency Director – Regional Office Director – Strategy and Change Management

Bank Square, Cairo Road, P.O. Box 30080, Lusaka, Zambia Tel:+260-211-399303, 399300, E-mail: dgo@boz.zm. Web: http://www.boz.zm