Seychelles Savings Bank Disgruntlement over delayed dividend payments The bank’s managing director confirmed allegations that the Seychelles Commercial Bank (SCB) – formerly known as the Seychelles Savings Bank - has not yet paid out the dividends to its shareholders for the year 2013 since it had undertaken a new name. He also explained what it is causing the delay. By A. De Giorgio The Seychelles Commercial Bank (SCB) held a press conference last Friday at its corporate branch at Orion Mall following allegations of unpaid dividends. The bank’s managing director, Michael Benstrong, confirmed that the SCB has not yet issued dividends for 2013 due to some technical issues affecting its software system. He said however that the matter has been resolved and the bank should be able to pay out the dividends for the two previous years in the next few months. Mr. Benstrong explained that SCB upgraded its banking software in August 2013 in an effort to reposition itself in the market and to create a platform for the modern services that the bank plans to introduce such as online banking which will not only allow customers to view and download their accounts and loan statements but at a later stage also conduct online transactions. But early last year, the bank identified some serious anomalies in its financial reports. According to Mr. Benstrong, the irregularities were only found in certain areas of its banking operations but none of their client’s banking accounts were affected by the issue. He went on to explain that some of the modules which provide financial information were not producing the correct data. “For instance our loan portfolio for 2013 had clearly increased but the financial reports shown a decrease in the total revenue collected which at the time did not make sense to us. That’s when we suspected that there was something wrong,” said Mr. Benstrong. “This was the first time that the bank finds itself in such a situation,” he added. Mr. Benstrong stated that the upgraded banking software was provided by Oracle Financial Solutions and Services Ltd, an international software supplier which the bank has worked with successfully since 2004. He mentioned that the SCB has informed Oracle about the anomalies and also hired another company to conduct a data analysis audit. Mr. Benstrong stated that Oracle had to send in consultants and engineers to Seychelles to correct to correct the anomalies at its own cost. “The exercise is almost completed and the bank’s external auditors are currently in the process of verifying the financial statements for the year ended 2013 and 2014,” he said. “We expect that our auditors will be in a position to release the audited accounts by the first quarter of this year after which the board will meet to discuss the dividend payments subject to Central Bank’s approval,” he added. Mr. Benstrong expressed his discontent over matter and added that the process to mend these technical issues has caused delays in the payment of dividends. However he assured shareholders that the Annual General meeting (AGM) will take place sometime between March and April which will be followed by the dividend payments for the year 2013. The dividends for the year 2014 will be issued later in this year. TODAY spoke to one of the shareholders who informed this newspaper last week about the dividends delay. The shareholder, who wished to remain anonymous, said that he had acquired his shares in 2011 at a time when the bank was still called the Seychelles Savings Bank (SSB) and complained about the fact that he had not received his dividends for 2013. His disgruntlement was not only due to the delay but also to the way the bank was handling the matter, keeping its shareholders in limbo. “I tried contacting the bank several times regarding the issue and they either put me on hold or say they would get someone to contact me but nobody ever did. We’re embarking on 2015 and still I haven’t seen my dividends for 2013; and nobody from the bank can seem to give me an explanation,” said the shareholder. For this part, Mr. Benstrong mentioned during the press conference that the bank was powerless in the matter and had no choice but to wait and rely on Oracle’s team of technicians to resolve the technical issues, even though they had been unable to provide SCB with a proper timeframe. He mentioned that only recently the bank was informed that the anomalies had been resolved and that the bank would be in a position to provide accurate financial reports.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 08:54:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015