Gondwes From Zambia: Michael Mikayeli Gondwe Profile by Eric Gondwe Dr. Michael Gondwe is currently the Governor of the Bank of Zambia, Zambia’s central bank. Its main purpose is to create and implement monetary policy to maintain the economic stability of Zambia, including managing Zambia’s money supply, serving as a source of credit for the government, banks and other financial institutions. He was ratified (approved) as Governor by the Parliament of Zambia on 23 December 2011. The position as Bank of Zambia Governor is first conferred by appointment from the President, then is subject to parliamentary review. Previous BOZ Service: 4 Years This is not his first time at Bank of Zambia. Dr. Gondwe worked there from June 1982 up to January 1986. He served as the Secretary to the Board of Directors, the supreme policy organ of the Bank. He was the head of the department that the Bank refers to as the Bank Secretariat department. Its purpose is to provide advisory services in all legal matters pertaining to and arising from the operations of the Bank. It provides legal advice and policy frameworks on banking, insolvency, labour and industrial matters. The Secretariat department also provides administrative support to the Board of Directors. PTA Bank -Longest Serving Admin Staff (25 years total, 10 years as President) After his service at Bank of Zambia he joined the PTA Bank (Preferential Trade Area Bank) in January 1986. PTA Bank is a development bank and it’s part of the COMESA regional trade organization (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa). However it has more members than COMESA, currently (2011) with 18 member countries, including China. As a development bank it extends loans to governments and business organizations in member countries for a repayment period of between three and 10 years. Dr. Gondwe first served as the Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs. This was his longest position at the PTA Bank which lasted from January 1986 to August 1998 (12+ years). It’s a position that is entrusted with handling the legal matters of the Bank’s functions, the corporate governance of the Bank and the Bank’s General Capital Increase exercise which aims at having industrialised and emerging market countries to join the Bank. It’s also a position that was so central to the PTA Bank that it was basically the engine of the Bank in it’s growth and consolidation. He actually headed the Bank for one and half years of the its early existence (January 1986 to July 1987) when its financial constraints prevented the appointment of the President. When it had a President he deputised or acted as President of the Bank in the absence of the President from duty more than any other senior management staff since its inception. One can say that although his official position as president was ten years he served as PTA Bank President in unofficial ways for an additional 5 years in prior years. After this position Dr. Gondwe briefly served as the Director of Personnel and Administration, from August 1998 to December 1999. In December 1999 he was appointed as its Acting President, by the PTA Bank’s Board of Directors. In 2000 the Bank’s Board of Directors voted him to be the Bank’s President. The position as President or as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PTA Bank currently has a five year term before review and elections by the Board. Each President can serve for a maximum of two terms (10 years). His two term service ended in early 2011. Dr. Gondwe ended his tenure as the Bank’s longest serving administrative staff - 25 years (1986 to 2011). Dr. Gondwe has served in steering the PTA Bank right from its inception to become one of Africa’s leading development banks. The Bank now (2011) has an asset base of over one billion U.S. Dollars. It could hardly afford paying its employees when it started and had no income other than contributions from member shareholder states. Now operating at record profit level he has left it at Double B minus (BB-) long term rating by Fitch Ratings, one of the top three international rating agencies. The EastAfrican newspaper says, “The new rating, now places PTA Bank higher than Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa countries which have been rated by the agency — Kenya (B+), Malawi (B-) Rwanda (B), and Uganda (B).” Dr Michael Gondwe said the new rating is proof that the bank is on the way to becoming a global bank. As of 2011, when ending of his tenure the PTA Bank membership comprises of eighteen member states, seventeen of which are COMESA members. In 2000 China was the first non-regional member country to join the PTA Bank. The African Development Bank (AfDB) is the only non-national shareholder. It’s categorised as an institutional shareholder. Currently (December 2011) the regional members’ shareholding is 87.71% whereas the non-regional shareholding stands at 6.53% (China) and the Institutional Shareholding at 5.76% (AfDB). Below are countries and one institution (AfDB) that are shareholders in PTA Bank (in alphabetical order).
African Development Bank Burundi China Comoros Djibouti Egypt Eritrea | Ethiopia Kenya Malawi Mauritius Rwanda Seychelles | Somalia Sudan Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe |
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The Bank still uses its original name, PTA Bank, created by the initial agreement of forming a preferential trade area (PTA). It was a regional trade agreement among Eastern and Southern African countries. The Treaty of 1981 establishing the Preferential Trade Area (PTA) among member countries was followed up by establishing a developement bank on 6 November 1985. The Bank came into operational existence in January 1986. It was headquartered in Bujumbura, Burundi, before relocating to Nairobi, Kenya, after some political instability in Burundi led to relocation. The Burundi office still remains the officially established headquarters of the Bank.
The PTA agreement among member countries was later upgraded to a common market regional trade agreement. The PTA organization thus got a new name that reflected its common market identity: It became known as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). The Bank however was not renamed to COMESA Bank. It is still part and parcel of the entire COMESA multilateral organization. The Bank is also formally referred to as the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank. It is currently headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. A few news articles on Dr. Michael Gondwe & PTA Bank: * PTA Bank looks at openings in Seychelles economy, by Seychelles State House. * PTA Bank's $300m Eurobond stirs up region's debt market, by The EastAfrican. * PTA bank's Euro Bond over-subscribed, by Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC). * PTA Bank raises KSh24 billion for lending to small firms drivers, by Business Daily Africa. * PTA Bank profit rises 34 per cent, by Business Daily Africa. * PTA Bank Makes USD18 Million in Profits, by Capital Eritrea. * PTA Bank secures Ush199 billion funding, by the New Vision, Uganda. * Investors To Benefit From PTA Bank Deal, By Business Daily Africa. * PTA Bank gets KSh3.8bn funding, by Daily Nation is Kenya. * PTA Bank receives Ksh1.5bn funding from OPEC Fund, PTA Bank, Kenya * Rwandair gets $40 Million & dumps aircraft provider, by Alternative Airlines, UK. * RwandAir and PTA Bank enter aviation financing agreement -TravelDailyNews, Greece * PTA Bank issues Shs40 billion bond in Uganda, by Daily Monitor, Uganda * Govt Secures Rescue Package, by Zimbabwe Independent, Zimbabwe * AfDB Officials Take Sneak Peek at Ailing Economy, by he Zimbabwe Standard * Apollo Bramwel Hospital, Mauritius, part funded by Bank, opens -PTA Bank, Kenya. * Bank funds USD 5 million university project, PTA Bank, Kenya. * PTA Bank Raises Capital Base to KSh140bn, by Business Daily Africa. * PTA Bank gets BB- rating, by The EastAfrican. * China Development Bank, PTA Bank sign US$50m credit agreement, by China.org.cn * Africa needs $25bn investment, 25pc can come from India -New Media Communication, India ___________________________________________________ References: * PTA Bank gets BB- rating, by The EastAfrican. * PTA Bank website, (PTABank.org) * The Bank of Zambia website ___________________________________________________ See also Michael Gondwe at Zambian People pages at Zambian.com.
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