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Trustco Group, an investment holding company majority owned by Namibian businessman Quinton van Rooyen and his family, has petitioned a Namibian high court for a review of several Bank of Namibia directives and decisions.
The legal action, filed on Friday last week in the Windhoek High Court by Trustco Group and its subsidiary Trustco Bank Namibia, called for a review of key pieces of economic legislation, as the group and its subsidiary questioned their constitutionality.
In a statement seen by Billionaires.Africa, Trustco said that after “two years of correspondence and threats” between Trustco Bank, Trustco Group Holdings, and the Bank of Namibia, the central bank denied Trustco the opportunity for its bank to enter full commercial banking operations, despite the group’s offer to capitalize on the bank’s balance sheet by N$1 billion ($55.35 million).
Trustco also claims that sections of the Banking Institutions Act of 1998 are unconstitutional because they violate the constitutional prohibition on unfair discrimination and Trustco Bank’s right to operate.
The group and its subsidiary added that since independence, Namibian depositors have loaned capital to South African banks on a daily basis, depriving Namibian businesses and individuals of the capital needed to grow the Namibian economy, which in turn should create jobs and decent living conditions, as envisaged in Namibian Constitution Article 98.
Article 101 of the Constitution requires the parliament to consider economic growth when enacting the Banking Institutions Act, according to van Rooyen, Trustco’s group managing director.
“Not once, not even once, did parliament use the concept of economic growth in any of these acts,” van Rooyen claimed. “In fact, the Banking Institutions Act’s lengthy title emphasizes only control, supervision, and regulations, and the development mindset is harmful to Namibian economic growth and wealth creation.”
Trustco, a diversified investment holding company majority owned and operated by the van Rooyen family, takes pride in investing in high-quality world-class assets in the financial services and resources industries, which generate long-term sustainable growth for stakeholders.
Van Rooyen, the group’s CEO and a prominent Namibian businessman, owns 63.94 percent of the company. His total stake is 1,004,000,060 ordinary shares and is presently valued at NAD548 million ($30.3 million).
