Asked about the BNA's announcement regarding the opening of an investigation to ascertain the circumstances in which the money raised by a commercial bank was found in the possession of officials from the Security House of the Presidency of the Republic, Pedro Castro e Silva said that regular investigations are carried out to banks.
"We do regular investigations of banks to see if they comply with the best practices, to find out if they comply with money laundering", he underlined on the sidelines of the presentation of the 12th edition of the Tech Trends study, presented by the consultant Deloitte in Luanda.
"It is a good thing that we heard about this news, it allowed us to identify other vulnerabilities that exist at the bank level. We have several identified and, as a result, we guided the banks to have action plans to correct these vulnerabilities, this is what we are going to do. also in this case ", said the person in charge.
On Monday, the court announced the seizure of several million dollars, euros and kwanzas as part of an investigation process against officers of the Armed Forces, suspected of crimes of embezzlement, currency retention, criminal association and others.
Among these is the head of finance for the musical band of the Presidency of the Republic, Major Pedro Lussaty, detained last week when he was carrying two suitcases loaded with 10 million dollars and 4 million euros.
Pedro Castro e Silva said that it is not possible to advance the name of the commercial bank being investigated for now: "This is what we are working on", he said.
Regarding how the BNA adapted to the covid-19 pandemic, he added that a business continuity plan was put in place and the number of people reduced, "without neglecting the smooth functioning of technological infrastructures that ensured that the payment system could continue to work" .
The same official indicated that the BNA launched a study on the digital currency to analyze the existing models, which will be detailed in the second phase to adapt the concepts to the national reality.
Pedro Castro e Silva also said that BNA wants to ensure that, as of 1 October, technological products and services will all be integrated with each other, allowing interoperability, including 'mobile money' (money transfers by mobile phone).
Initially, payments will be made between people, and next year it will be possible to pay for services and in stores, he added.
