The Bankers Association of Malawi (BAM} says it has finished preparing a code of ethics for the banking sector which even the public will have an opportunity to see its contents. The code is expected to be released in the next two months.

BAM executive director Fanuel Kumdana said yesterday they are currently in the process of seeking a legal opinion and once they have finalised that, the document will be released.

On the part of common account application forms which BAM had announced last November and that all banks would implement by January this year, Kumdana said most banks implemented this from May 1 this year.

Several banks interviewed randomly confirmed having made some changes to their forms in line with BAM's recommendations while others said they want to clear the old stock before rolling out the new forms.

"Yes, all our branches (National Bank of Malawi) are using these new forms," said Anne Magola, National Bank's public relations manager, adding: "We (National Bank) are just modifying the document to make it customer friendly. The document was a little bit thick and to avoid boring our customers we have decided to make a few changes."

NBS Bank marketing and business development manager Stanley Mkwamba also said his bank made the necessary changes and was currently clearing the old stock.

The introduction of new forms was thought to be one way of curbing money laundering as in the past—when banks were using different forms—there was room for abuse. But with standard account opening, Kumdana said, it would be one way of stopping money laundering as a customer would be known better.