Banks in Mozambique

Banco de Moçambique (BM) licenses and supervises banks and other financial institutions, oversees consumer conduct, anti-money-laundering controls and the National Payment System, and publishes authorized institution lists. The Ministry of Finance has responsibilities for monetary, financial and foreign-exchange policy, while GIFiM receives financial-crime information. SIMO manages the national interbank network, and the Deposit Guarantee Fund protects eligible deposits under the applicable rules. Law 20/2020 and Decree 50/2024 define the main institution types. BM's 2024 annual report recorded 15 banks, 15 microbanks and 4 credit cooperatives, as well as an investment company and a card-issuing and management company. A natural person generally opens an account with a valid Mozambican identity document. A company or other legal entity generally provides a registration certificate or equivalent document. Anonymous and fictitious accounts are prohibited. Each customer receives one NUIB, the single bank identifier assigned through the institution when the account is opened. The institution may request further information to complete customer identification and financial-crime checks. A basic or simplified bank account is a local-currency demand-deposit account for natural persons. It can be held at one institution, have up to two co-holders and be opened without an initial deposit. Its balance and transaction limits are each capped at three banking-sector minimum salaries. The package includes at least a debit or prepaid card, ATM access, electronic or mobile banking, agents and branches, deposits, withdrawals, payments for goods and services, direct debits and domestic intra-bank and interbank transfers. It does not provide an overdraft, and the institution cannot require additional products as a condition of opening it. A refusal based on a legal or BM-approved reason requires a free written explanation. People aged 18 or older can open one independently; ages 15 to 17 require written authorization from a legal representative, while younger applicants use a legal representative. A minor aged 15 to 17 without one may use a Curador de Menores, with a stated five-day period for the process. Mozambique's regulated payment system includes cheques, interbank electronic transfers and direct debits. The National Payment System includes CEL clearing and settlement, MTR real-time wholesale transfers and STF state-fund transfers. Law 15/2026 modernizes this system and replaces Law 2/2008. Notice 1/GBM/2026 establishes the Mozambique Instant Payment System, intended to operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with immediate availability to the beneficiary. M-Pesa, mKesh and e-Mola have been interoperable through SIMOrede since 1 July 2022. Mobile money is especially relevant where agents provide easier physical access than branches, but it is not identical to a formal bank account: the services, deposit protection, cards, interbank functions and customer identification arrangements can differ. Q1 2026 indicators recorded 6.70 million bank accounts, 25.25 million mobile-money subscribers and 467,622 mobile-money agents. These figures are not directly comparable because an account and a subscriber are defined differently. In Q2 2026, bank accounts grew by 1.3%, mobile-money accounts by 4.1% and bank cards by 3.3%; mobile-money agents grew by 5.8%, while bank branches fell by 0.4%, ATMs by 1.1% and point-of-sale terminals by 0.4%. The figures describe national access patterns and do not remove the need to check the actual services available in a particular area. Only authorized credit institutions and financial companies may accept deposits. The Deposit Guarantee Fund operates under Decree 36/2024 and Ministerial Order 86/2024, with maximum reimbursement of MZN 40,000 and a repayment target of seven working days after deposits become unavailable. A term deposit can have contractual conditions or penalties for early mobilization, so those terms should be checked before signing. Institutions set product-specific fees, commissions and charges, but they have to disclose costs, rates and service prices before or when the contract is concluded; BM reviews proposed pricing for reasonableness. A basic account has no initial-deposit requirement, but it should not automatically be described as fee-free. Account opening times depend on the institution and the completeness of the documents. A written closure request generally takes effect when it is signed. An account is considered inactive when its balance is zero or less and no operation has taken place for more than two years. After at least two years, an institution may close it when the balance has been below MZN 100 or zero during the last six months and no operations occurred. Customers have rights to clear, current and objective information, to choose and change providers, and to receive the contractual terms for early mobilization of term deposits. Under the applicable conditions, a customer may withdraw from a contract within seven working days. Complaints should first go to the institution; the customer can approach BM when the institution disagrees with the complaint or fails to answer within the legal period. Customers provide truthful and complete identification data, update changes, follow the contract and fee terms, keep enough money for debit-account obligations, use payment instruments properly and do not use mistaken transfers or irregular credits. PINs, passwords and card details should remain private, and statements and access dates should be checked regularly. Suspicious activity can lead to preventive blocking or holding of funds, sanctions screening, freezing measures and notifications to BM, GIFiM or the prosecutor under anti-money-laundering rules.