CAPTAINS of Zimbabwe’s industries have urged the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to urgently step in after a wave of bank account closures unsettled corporate players already navigating brittle trading conditions.
In a detailed submission ahead of the central bank’s forthcoming Monetary Policy Statement, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) called for a minimum six-month grace period before financial institutions shut down dormant corporate accounts, warning that abrupt closures are amplifying stress within the formal economy.
The chamber said the clampdown was undermining financial inclusion at a time when authorities are aggressively pushing businesses to migrate to electronic transactions and formal banking platforms.
“Bank charges and non-funded income, high commissions and fees have been limiting financial inclusion and formal banking,” the ZNCC said in its five-page submission.
“The closure of dormant corporate accounts worsens the problem.”
While the ZNCC did not quantify the scale of the impact, executives, who spoke to the Zimbabwe Independent said the clean-up has hit small and medium enterprises (SMEs) hardest.
Many operate seasonally or maintain ring-fenced accounts for specific contracts and projects, accounts that may remain inactive for months before activity resumes.
Zimbabwe’s banking sector periodically enforces dormant account reviews in line with anti-money laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.
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Lenders argue that inactive accounts elevate compliance risk, expose institutions to regulatory penalties and inflate administrative costs.
But industry leaders say the current exercise appears unusually aggressive, unfolding in the midst of a prolonged liquidity squeeze and subdued industrial output.
For more than a decade, Zimbabwe’s monetary landscape has been marked by currency instability, cash shortages and abrupt policy shifts. The 2008 hyperinflation catastrophe wiped out savings, while the 2019 reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar reignited volatility and eroded confidence in formal banking channels.
Many firms, scarred by past shocks, continue to hold value outside the system.
The result is a shallow deposit base and a banking sector heavily dependent on transactional and non-funded income. Business groups argue that high charges, steep commissions and aggressive revenue extraction have discouraged deeper financial intermediation.
The ZNCC warned that shuttering dormant accounts risks weakening monetary policy transmission at a delicate moment.
“Businesses, especially SMEs, avoid banking channels despite the mandate to adopt the use of POS machines, weakening financial intermediation and policy transmission,” the chamber said.
Authorities have in recent years tightened surveillance of bank accounts to curb parallel market activity and speculative foreign currency trading.
Accounts suspected of facilitating exchange rate manipulation have at times been frozen. While the RBZ maintains such interventions are targeted at illicit conduct, business groups say broad-brush enforcement often ensnares compliant firms.
Compounding the strain is the recently introduced digital tax, which industry argues has increased transaction costs and added administrative complexity.
According to the ZNCC, early implementation glitches saw goods incorrectly swept into the tax net, despite the levy being designed primarily for digital services.
Executives say layering new taxes onto a stressed banking ecosystem risks driving more activity into informality, precisely the opposite of policymakers’ stated objectives.
The chamber urged the RBZ to “intensify its campaign to persuade financial institutions to reduce bank charges, enforce transparency on non-funded income, and require a minimum six-month grace period before closing inactive corporate accounts”.
With industrial capacity utilisation still below potential and access to affordable credit constrained, business leaders warn that policy missteps could unsettle fragile macroeconomic stability.
“The focus should be on rebuilding trust in the banking sector,” one manufacturing executive said.
“Once confidence returns, deposits and activity will follow.”
