"While Bayba is under Central Bank control", says Governor Saho

Bamba Saho, the Governor of the Central Bank has reassured all depositors, dealers and other customers of the seized Bayba Money Transfer company that under the management of the Central Bank, their monies are save and can continue their transaction with the company on regular basis.

Governor Saho gave this assurance yesterday in an interview with the Daily Observer in his office at the Central Bank.

According to him, all the customers dealing with Bayba should note that they are dealing with an organization that is under the management of the Central Bank of The Gambia and that there funds are safe. "With Babya, we will make sure that the depositors does not suffer and I have the support of government adding that all dealers and depositors with Bayba can continue as it is safe under the Central Bank of the Gambia management. In short, all those conducting business with Bayba during the CBG management, their monies are safe' he said.

He added that the effect of the seizure of Bayba is that the Central Bank of The Gambia has taken full and exclusive management and control of it, noting that while the Central Bank is running it, customers of Babya can conduct businesses with Bayba in a safe manner which is the purpose of the seizure.

Clarifying the ' take possession' statement indicated in the recent press release,Governor Saho stated that, they took full control of the full management. "We basically have exclusive powers of management and control of Bayba".

Asked whether plans are in place to quit Bayba from banking and shift it to its previously very successful money transfer business, Governor Saho stated that they started the prescription of Bayba under Section 28 of the Central Bank of The Gambia Act on December 3rd 2007, and what it meant was that they appointed a Central Bank adviser for Bayba to work with the management of Bayba to try to see how best to take corrective measures to put the company back on track.

"Subsequent to that, it did not work very well and we decided to take this action of seizing the company which we term as a much stronger action" he said.

According to him, within the 90 days of the seizure which took effect on April 25th, 2007, the Central Bank of The Gambia will come up with a firm plan as to what to do with the company. He added "one of the options is to re-organise the company. After the 90 days, we will also come up with a view as to what is best to do but note that, one of the options definitely is to re-organise the company" he said.

Governor Saho added that, as a Central Bank, they do not want to close financial institutions noting that, it will be the last they will want to do. According to him, apart from the impact generally on confidence, they also want to see The Gambia's financial system develop and help the country achieve its development aspirations. He reiterated:

"But again, the last that we will want to do is to close financial institutions in this country, though sometimes its an option. But obviously, it is an option, but we will always say that this is what we are going to do during this period that we have to conduct studies and look at the options available and who is a willing buy and whether the owners are ready to inject more capital into it or not" he said.

Governor Saho then reassured the customers dealing with Bayba to note that they are dealing with an organization that is under the management of the Central Bank of The Gambia and that their funds are safe. "With Babya, we will make sure that the depositors do not suffer and I have the support of government adding that all dealers and depositors with Bayba can continue as it is safe under the Central Bank of the Gambia management. In short, all those conducting business with Bayba during the CBG management can rest assured that their monies are safe' he concluded.