Lorna Smith plans bank talks to fix several issues
Amid cries of poor customer service delivered by banks across the territory, Minister for Financial Services Lorna Smith said an “early meeting with banks” is at the top of her list as a new minister.
In recent years, there have been growing complaints of long wait times, inadequate and poorly trained staff, and empty ATM machines at local banks. Smith said she will be holding meetings to solve these customer-related issues as well as others.
“One of the early things I’d like to do is hold an early meeting with all of the banks; not only to make sure they improve loan financing services but also the wider services they provide,” Smith explained. She added that she is particularly concerned about the banking services delivered to Jost Van Dyke and Anegada.
“I will not stop my discussions with them until they provide services to the sister islands — Jost Van Dyke and Anegada especially — and at least a functioning automatic teller machine,” Smith said.
Earlier this week, the Chairman of the Financial Services Complaints Tribunal, Jack Husbands, said residents could bring their grievances to the tribunal which would then dialogue with banks to address reported issues.
He added that the Complaints Tribunal accepts a wide variety of reports including those related to individuals who feel they have not received timely responses from banks when applying for mortgages and other types of loans.
At the same time, he said his office can’t tell the Commission what sanctions to impose on banks and other financial institutions that residents feel are operating below standard.
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I just want back my vote from you. That’s all. Thank you
if this government actually intended to serve the people, they would announce a consumer protection bill committee that covers all retail, goods and services.
This plan is the very least that can be done and will only temporarily appease us.
while you setting things right, get rid of the retrogressive apatheid type tax on expats sending money out through the Money Transfer services. Focus on collecting taxes employers collect from employees and never pay to Gov’t.
It was only a matter of time before she robbed us from under her noes…..Only hope we have at this moment is for natural selection to kick in, and fix this error
Stop the noise We need to increase that western union and money gram tax if we changing anything to it at all. Best thing head coach ever do in his time as premier.
Is our savings and deposits secured by any means if a collapse or bank run happens? Is BANCO here FDIC insured? Will government address this risk? If so how?
The Government introduced deposit insurance legislation in 2015, but this is only being rolled out now. This is the BVI after all. It will take many years to build up the insurance fund, it will cost a lot (which consumers will end up paying through fees or lower interest) and there will be a big, expensive and unnecessary Board to run it (which consumers will also pay for).
Most BVI banks have plenty of capital and are strong. You might guess which banks are not….
Didn’t National Bank have some kind of opening in Jost Van Dyke where an ATM was set up. I recall when Premier Fahie and bank officials went over for that event. Am I dreaming?
So what happened to the big announcement Andrew Fahie made in December 2020 about a National Bank ATM on Jost Van Dyke? Lorna, please do some research and ask Mitch Turnbull about this. From the article that I read it seems that there was money put aside for that project.
What happened to the money? How come the project wasn’t completed? Andrew didn’t get caught up until 2022.
Lorna, please check and let us know your findings. Don’t waste tax payers money duplicating this project.
We’ll be waiting on your response Lorna.
No bank is going to put a machine on either BUT private atm’s would work if allowed and would give companies on those islands a way to turn their cash into a deposit without going to the bank themselves. However they would nees insurance.
Before you talk about long lines and empty machines, please talk about helping people get mortgages to own their own home instead of vehicle loans as priority.
If she is sleep on what’s coming then she needs to wake up. The banks are causing everything on purpose it’s called New World Order. The money has crashed do the digital beast control system can come into play. Wake up people we’re doomed
There seems to be a misunderstanding of the of Tribunals’ role. FSC is the regulator and operational complaints should be made to FSC not the Tribunal. FSC has the regulatory remit for the the financial services industry and bank.
Honorable Smith have to be careful not to side step the various bodies and person involved in the process re: the delivery of banking services
This is so lame. Are you going to pump money into the banking system for them to increase their staff and customer services?
Because if not they will just go into a pr campaign as to why Banks all over the world are moving from physical branches where ppl do basic transactions to a combination of online and smaller locations.
Is Lorna still a director of the bank?
All the experienced bankers have retired or operating their own businesses now. Government need to leverage the knowledge of experience from those old Bankes who back in the day ran each bank in an impeccable manner. We see them or bump into them every day why not strike up that conversation. Consumer Protection Act in Banking is a necessity just like the US, USVI, Jamaica and many other countries globally and regionally….. Hot Air I would say
It’s almost like there’s no regulations on these banks to make sure they are held to any kind of standard. the service is terrible the technology is behind and the interest rates sky high they really get to do what they want in the BVI.