Zimbabwe orders foreign-owned banks to become 51 per cent black-owned

Zimbabwe's leaders have given an ultimatum to foreign-owned banks and other firms to cede a 51 per cent stake to local black people in compliance with empowerment laws. A notice in the government gazette, made public yesterday gave the companies involved one year to comply.  

Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo

Britain's Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays are among the major foreign banks with operations in the former British colony.

The 2007 Empowerment Law has already led mining firms, including South African subsidiary Zimplats, to the transfer ownership.

Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has widened the targeted sectors to include almost the entire economy.

But Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, President Robert Mugabe's uneasy coalition government partner, dismissed the notice as "unlawful".

Economist Nana Ampofo says that for banks and investors the uncertainty is as much a problem as the policy itself.