Malawi central bank removes pension trustees over disputed hotel deal

Malawi’s financial regulator has removed the trustees of the country’s largest public pension fund after they ignored an order to halt a controversial hotel acquisition worth millions of dollars.

The unusually forceful intervention highlights concerns about governance in the management of public retirement savings.

The Reserve Bank of Malawi revoked the licences of 11 trustees of the Public Service Pension Trust Fund after they failed to comply with a directive to unwind the fund’s purchase of Amaryllis Hotel Blantyre, according to a regulatory statement.

The hotel is owned by Yusuf Investments Limited, which had received billions of Malawi kwacha from the pension fund before regulators intervened.

The case has quickly become one of the most closely watched governance controversies in Malawi’s financial sector, raising broader questions about how pension assets, representing the retirement savings of thousands of public employees, are invested.

According to a statement issued on Thursday, which the Mail & Guardian reviewed, the registrar of financial institutions, George Partridge, first intervened in November 2025 after concerns emerged about the valuation and structure of the proposed acquisition.

In a directive dated 14 November, the regulator ordered the pension fund to suspend all transactions related to the purchase, pending further review.

The trustees proceeded regardless.

Financial records examined by investigators indicate that by the time regulators escalated the matter earlier this year, more than $51 million (R853m) had been transferred to the seller.

The size of the transaction immediately drew attention inside government oversight structures. Documents presented to parliament’s public accounts committee of Malawi suggest the purchase price of the hotel might have climbed to about $74m. 

Earlier valuations reportedly placed the property’s worth closer to $27m, creating a large gap between the assessed value and the agreed purchase price.

The discrepancy has become central to the investigation.

Regulators later instructed the trustees to rescind the agreement and recover the funds paid to the seller. The trustees were also asked to explain why administrative penalties should not be imposed.

They failed to comply.

Under Section 36 of Malawi’s Pension Act 2023, trustees who ignore lawful directives issued by the registrar may have their licences revoked. The central bank has now exercised that authority.

The trustees removed from office are Chizaso Eric Nyirongo, Chikondi Veronica Phiri, Idris Mdala Mwale, Maxwell Spencer Tsitsi, Ireen Chikapa, Arthur Manyunya, Precious Chimbamba, Yona Phiri, Richard Zimba, Brazio Mphepo and Bernard Nyondo.

All 11 are barred from serving as pension trustees. The enforcement action comes as Malawi attempts to strengthen oversight of its pension sector. The country introduced updated pension legislation in recent years aimed at tightening governance standards and improving the supervision of funds that manage workers’ retirement savings.

The Public Service Pension Trust Fund manages contributions from thousands of government employees, including teachers, nurses, police officers and civil servants. For many of them, the pension system represents the primary form of financial security after retirement.

But the regulatory action does not resolve the broader controversy surrounding the hotel transaction.

According to financial intelligence reports reviewed by investigators, authorities have frozen roughly $41m linked to the deal while inquiries continue into how the funds were transferred and whether any payments were diverted after leaving the pension fund.

Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau has intensified its investigation into the transaction. Investigators are examining the movement of funds through company accounts connected to the deal, as well as the procurement and valuation procedures used to approve the investment.

Documents submitted to parliamentary hearings suggest the trustees might have ignored professional advice warning that the acquisition carried significant financial risks.

Some submissions have also questioned whether the firm responsible for valuing the property had the appropriate qualifications to assess a transaction of that scale.

The controversy has triggered concern among labour organisations representing pension contributors. The Malawi Congress of Trade Unions has called for the termination of the hotel deal and the full recovery of the funds paid to the seller.

For many contributors, the issue is straightforward. Public sector pensions remain one of the few reliable sources of retirement income in Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries.

While the removal of the trustees demonstrates a rare example of regulatory enforcement in Malawi’s financial system, the central question remains unresolved: whether the $51m paid for the hotel can be recovered.