There is a glimmer of hope for Status Capital Building Society (SCBS) investors as over E35 million has already been recovered, with an additional E95 million anticipated in the coming months.
The curator, Bimal de Silva, who was appointed by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) in December, 2024, to oversee SCBS’s recovery process, shared an update with investors in Mbabane last week Friday.
He explained that significant progress had been made, but a lot still remained to be done to fully recover the rest of the funds.
He revealed that SCBS currently holds about E33.7 million in various accounts.
This figure includes E23.5 million invested locally at 9.78 per cent interest, E10 million in treasury bills earning 9.02 per cent, and E183 000 in a commercial bank for operational costs at two per cent.
If SCBS were liquidated today, after paying about E2.9 million in fees, E5.1 million in creditors, and E1.5 million for employees, investors could expect to recover around 16 per cent of their original investments; a situation that the meeting unanimously agreed not to allow.
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De Silva said about E95 million, including interest, mostly linked to debentures, was still likely to be recovered. An additional E2.7 million is also being actively pursued. The funds recovered so far, he told investors, had been carefully allocated; E600 000 went to creditors, E1.2 million covered employee costs, E550 000 was used for operational expenses, and E346 000 was allocated for issued loans.
The investments had also earned E1.5 million in interest, which offset the employee costs.
De Silva reassured investors that the money recovered was safe and that he remained dedicated to recovering as much as possible.
The meeting highlighted the financial difficulties faced by SCBS. While de Silva remained cautiously optimistic about more recoveries, the investors expressed concern over the situation. Initially divided over whether to liquidate immediately or give more time for recovery, they ultimately agreed to support de Silva’s efforts and appreciated his transparency.
De Silva recently secured an extension of his mandate until August 18.
However, investors requested that the FSRA considered extending his term further until he recovered most of the money that is still to be retrieved.
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