The Bank of Namibia on Thursday said it has not approved nor endorsed the business activities of Angelitos Community Foundation as it falls outside the mandate of the bank.

Deputy Director for Corporate Communications, Kazembire Zemburuka in a media statement said the bank assessed the business activities of Angelitos Community Foundation to determine whether such activities contravene section 55A of the Banking Institutions Act, 1998 (Act No. 2 of 1998).

“The outcome of the assessment revealed that the business activities conducted by the foundation as presented to the bank do not fall within the regulatory ambit of the bank. This finding was formally communicated to the foundation via a letter,” he said.

He said that the letter clearly informed the foundation that the object of the letter was merely to communicate the outcome of the assessment and does not constitute any approval or endorsement of its business model, adding that the bank has noted with concern that the foundation is using the same letter to solicit funds from the public and to attract potential investors to its business activities by misrepresenting the letter as an endorsement of its business model.

Zemburuka advised members of the public to be cautious when investing their money with unregulated entities.

“Members of the public must remain vigilant by conducting the appropriate due diligence on activities of any business to ensure that these entities are registered with the relevant authorities and that they offer products that are authentic,” he said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency