Analysts said the push by the government to force banks to comply with indigenisation regulations was scaring away potential investors while locals did not have the capacity to access credit facilities.
Economic analyst, John Robertson, said potential investors did not want to hear that they would be forced to let go of their investments.
“These demands suggest to foreign investors that they might lose their investments. Some locals have borrowed to meet the capitalisation requirements but their capacity to do this is limited,” he said.
Robertson said banks’ limited success in attracting new capital was just one of the challenges brought by the indigenisation policy.
“Employment is one of the biggest casualties of this policy. We must understand that investors have lots of choices. They don’t have to invest in Zimbabwe,” he said.
Last year the Reserve Bank raised minimum capital requirements for commercial and merchant banks to $100 million from $12,5 million and $10 million, respectively.
This was later reviewed and the banks were instructed to raise $25 million by the end of 2012, $50 million by end of June and the deadline for full capitalisation was moved from December 2014 to 2020.
Sixty-seven percent of the banks have already complied with the $25 million threshold and economist, Erich Bloch, said those still to meet the requirements may have to seek an extension.
The National Merchant Bank earlier this year secured $16m in lines of credit, while MBCA got a $75 million injection facilitated by its South African parent Nedbank.
Post published in: News