By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 4 September 2014:
Aman bank, one of the leading privately owned banks in Libya, co-owned by the Portuguese . . .[restrict]Banco Espirito Santos (BES), issued a statement Tuesday in which it said that its branches would no longer accept any cash deposits due to the lack of security in Tripoli.
The statement said that due to the current security circumstances, and in an effort to assure the security of customers and bank employees, and in an effort to secure the money of customers and due to the inability to adequately secure the transport of money from Aman bank to the Central Bank of Libya, the bank has been, regretfully, forced to temporarily cease accepting any cash deposits.
The bank further said that currently it will only be accepting guaranteed cheques for immediate credit and that unguaranteed cheques would be accepted, but these would have to go through the normal clearing process (which in Libya can take up to 15 days depending on the geographical location of the bank on which the cheque is drawn).
Aman bank said that it hoped to resume the acceptance of cash deposits as soon as the security situation had improved.
The bank stressed, however, that there are no limits on withdrawals, funds permitting, at this time.
It will be recalled that Aman bank has been the subject of a number of bank heists.
In April this year, robbers successfully made off with LD 6 million. [/restrict]
