The Namibian financial environment is well developed and robust and this has ensured that the country enjoys a high degree of financial stability and has a favourable environment for investment.

Namibia is part of the Common Monetary Area (CMA) with South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho and as a result the Namibian Dollar (NAD) is pegged to the South African rand (ZAR).

The Namibian financial sector is sophisticated and consists of a number of commercial banks with international ties to facilitate international banking as well as commercial and government sources of finance geared to enterprise finance.

Equity finance, local equity holdings and finance for infrastructure maybe provided by various single and or syndicated source of finance.

All commercial banks are required to have banking licenses. These are issued by the Bank of Namibia (BoN) in terms of the Banking Institutions Act (1988). The requirements for a banking license include:

• Capital funds of at least US$570 000
• Proper internal control and robust risk management systems
• The ability to continually comply with prudential banking regulations relating to, among others, minimum liquid assets, minimum capital adequacy ratio, minimum local assets, loan loss provisions and lending and credit concentration limits.

The BoN in both on- and off-site inspections regularly inspects banks. The banking institutions’ main vulnerabilities are credit and liquidity risks. Their credit risk stems from the banks’ exposure to household mortgages.

It is estimated that about 40% of bank loans are individual mortgages. Liquidity risk stem from the concentration of large institutional depositors which, should they withdraw their deposits, could have an adverse effect on the banks’ liquidity.

The Banking Sector in Namibia comprises of eight banking institutions, which can be categorised as follows: seven commercial banking institutions; and a branch of a foreign banking institution.

The Bank of Namibia oversees the business conduct of a representative office. These banking institutions are the primary mobilisers of funds from the public and the main sources of financing, which support business operations and economic activities in Namibia.

• First National Bank Namibia Limited
• Bank Windhoek Namibia Limited
• Standard Bank Namibia Limited
• Nedbank Namibia Limited
• Trustco Bank Namibia Limited
• Letshego Bank Namibia Limited (Micro-Finance Banking Institution)
• Banco Atlantico (Branch of Foreign Banking Institution)
• ABSA Representative Office

• Namibia Post Office Savings Bank (a division of NamPost Ltd)
• Agricultural Bank of Namibia Ltd
• National Housing Enterprise Ltd
• Development Bank of Namibia Ltd

The Credit Information Sharing System in Namibia is regulated by the Credit Bureau Regulations, 2014. The Regulations empowers credit bureaus to collect and sell credit performance information for individuals and businesses. Any person who intends to collect and sell credit performance information should be authorised to so conduct credit bureau business, in terms of the Regulations. The dissemination of credit performance information by credit bureaus make it easier for credit providers to determine the credit worthiness of customers and take appropriate credit decisions.