Mozambique’s Banking Sector Captured: Foreigners in Control, Mozambicans Sidelined
Mozambique’s banking system is increasingly falling under the control of foreign interests, in a scenario that severely undermines economic sovereignty, weakens national regulatory capacity and systematically sidelines Mozambican professionals. With executive boards overwhelmingly dominated by expatriates, particularly from Portugal, the country’s major commercial banks have been transformed into instruments of a new financial order, one that reproduces patterns of exclusion and exploitation akin to a neocolonial structure.
Institutions such as Millennium BIM, BCI, FNB, Absa and Standard Bank are now controlled by foreign financial groups which, under the pretext of safeguarding their capital investments, effectively block Mozambicans from accessing senior decision-making roles. This practice has been corroborated by the National Union of Banking Employees (SNEB), which denounces the fact that systemic banks have executive boards composed entirely of foreigners, a blatant violation of principles of inclusion and labour justice.
While foreign investment can bring value to sectoral development, its unchecked dominance is producing deeply harmful consequences. Data obtained by TORRE.News indicates that more than 70 percent of funds allocated to salaries and benefits are directed to expatriates, who enjoy perks such as paid housing, transportation and meal allowances, private insurance and regular flights abroad. This creates a structural imbalance with national workers, whose legal minimum wage in the banking sector stands at just 17.800 meticais. The disparity is even starker when compared with the minimum wage in the expatriates’ countries of origin, such as Portugal, where it exceeds 50.000 meticais per month.
This asymmetry is exacerbated by a workplace culture described by employees as toxic, marked by moral harassment, routine humiliation and the promotion of servility as a criterion for professional advancement. According to testimonies gathered by TORRE.News, Mozambican workers are often treated with disdain, excluded from decision-making processes and used instrumentally within a deeply unequal hierarchy.
The Bank of Mozambique, as the regulatory authority, has attempted to exert some control by imposing fines on institutions that violate prudential, foreign exchange and consumer protection rules. In 2023 alone, BCI was fined approximately 40 million meticais due to irregularities committed largely by foreign executives. The total amount of fines imposed on banks such as Millennium BIM, FNB and Letsego exceeded 130 million meticais. In 2024, further sanctions were applied to nine institutions including Moza Banco, Absa and Société Générale for offences such as money laundering, financing of terrorism and other serious infractions.
Nonetheless, these penalties have failed to bring about structural change. The hiring of expatriates into top-level roles without open recruitment remains widespread. According to the SNEB, Mozambique’s Labour Law sets quotas only for technical functions, while remaining silent on executive posts. This legal loophole is exploited by banks, which often claim without evidence that no qualified Mozambican professionals are available for leadership roles.
To circumvent public and legal scrutiny, many expatriates resort to fast-tracked naturalisation, acquiring Mozambican citizenship only to be formally downgraded to junior roles while maintaining their privileges. This manoeuvre clears the way for yet more foreigners to be hired, perpetuating the cycle of exclusion of Mozambicans.
According to Mauro Zefanias, a legal advisor at SNEB and an expert in labour violations, the problem goes beyond the mere presence of foreigners. “There is an undeniable racial element to this process. In Mozambique, there is no racial or ethnic balance within bank leadership. South Africa confronted this issue through affirmative policies such as Black Economic Empowerment, which imposed leadership quotas. In Mozambique, we continue to ignore this fundamental aspect of institutional sovereignty,” he said.
The internal representation crisis within the banking sector also extends to widespread outsourcing practices. Workers employed by third-party service providers often perform the same tasks as full-time staff but receive significantly lower pay and have no access to benefits. At the same time, long-serving employees are frequently pushed into forced termination agreements under the threat of dismissal and replaced by newly graduated young professionals earning meagre salaries.
This reality reflects a system that is crumbling both morally and institutionally. Instead of fostering inclusion and development, financial capital has deepened inequality and fostered a culture of opacity and repression. Banks operating in Mozambique now function as foreign fortresses, impervious to public scrutiny, indifferent to the wellbeing of their employees and disconnected from the country’s development agenda.
Unless urgent reforms are enacted, Mozambique risks losing complete control over its financial system, a sector that is vital to any sovereign state. The call to revise legislation, impose quotas on leadership roles, rigorously monitor recruitment processes and value Mozambican human capital is not merely a labour demand; it is a national imperative. The silence of the authorities in the face of this institutional capture is, in itself, a form of complicity in maintaining a banking system that no longer serves the Mozambican people.
