The Botswana Building Society Limited (BBSL) has allayed investor fears calling for calm following its suspension of its bond BBS005 on the Botswana Stock Exchange Limited (BSEL).
The BBSL bond was suspended last week for failure to produce audited financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2019 as per the BSEL requirement. The suspension remains until the results are released.
The BBSL management through a shareholder notice alluded the delay to the upgrade of its core banking system. The system forms part of the bank’s monitoring mechanism on a daily basis as a way of identifying any irregularities.
“BBSL would like to assure asset managers and their clients that despite the suspension of BBS005, it will continue to pay coupons biannually with the principal amount settled fully upon maturity,” the bank said.
It said the suspension of BBS005 only affects its tradability on the BSEL counter not BBSL’s obligations to investors
“Having recently concluded the audit for 2018, BBSL would also like to confirm that it is now working on the audit for the year ended December 2019 whose completion date will be announced in due course to enable, amongst others, the reinstatement of BBS005 by BSEL,” read the note to shareholders.
It is also until the BBSL has finalized the audit for the period ended December 2019 that the indigenous bank will update its banking license application for re-submission to the regulator – Bank of Botswana – to be considered to operate as a commercial bank.
The Banks’ managing director, Pius Molefe, recently indicated: “BBSL is in full mode to run the commercial bank in the event that the Bank of Botswana issues it with a license.”
Then BBS in September 2018, it listed 487 million shares, representing its issued capital, on the Botswana Stock Exchange’s new Serala OTC board, marking a leap in the company’s demutualization process.
The Bank has finalised a new organisational structure which is in line with the envisaged banking operation which it is envisaged will help deliver on the mandate of the new bank. The Bank is finalising a new business strategy that is more attuned to the demands of a commercial bank.
