Letshego inspections to commence soon

The Bank of Namibia will commence its inspection of Letshego Financial Services’ readiness to conduct banking activities.This was revealed by its spokesperson, Ndangi Katoma in response to a query by the Economist.
The central bank recently concluded its pre-inspection activities, paving the way for further probing of its readiness to operate in the country. “Letshego is only provisionally licensed and is not yet allowed to do banking business. The provisional license of Letshego Financial Services will expire on 20 July 2016. The Bank of Namibia recently concluded its pre-opening inspection at Letshego Financial Services to determine their readiness to open their doors for banking activities. Further, the Bank cannot share any further detail in this regard because the outcome of the pre-opening inspection has not been finalised yet,” Katoma indicated.
He further explained the necessity required to conduct the inspections. “It is important to first ensure that stress-testing is correctly understood in terms of why and what the purpose of stress-testing is when it is carried out. The Bank of Namibia normally only carries out such stress-testing exercises on existing banking institutions to see whether they will survive abnormal market situations. This is done by applying severe but reasonable scenarios. At present, Letshego has not been subjected to any such testing because such testings are only applied onto licensed banking institutions.”
It was reported that Letshego’s provisional banking license was extended last year. Time will tell whether the Bank of Namibia will be lenient to the aspiring banking institution this time round.
The Economist also reported earlier this month that Letshego was rebranding in an effort to increase the scope of its interests in the financial sector. Its Manager for Corporate Affairs, Mythri Sambasivan-George said at the time, “In Namibia, Letshego will look to align with the Namibian government’s agenda for sustainable socio-economic development. To this end it has committed to support the national Harambe Prosperity Plan.”
She explained that the refreshed brand with its newly articulated promise of “Let’s improve life” comes at a time when the group has entered a transformation phase with a number of positive digital developments taking place that will have a sustainable impact on many lives in Africa.”