So does the tend to vindicate BoB for at least some of its poor performance over the past year. The largest bank on the is suffering loses despite downsizing and cutting back severely on customer service. Everyone is in agreement that the economy has deteriorated and loans are not performing.

The variance in performance of retail banks in the country warrants further study. Why is it that Commonwealth Bank achieves record profits and BoB achieves record losses? Why is FINCO's results so choppy and Fidelity's so consistently improving.

Is it that their management skills are just that much better?

Sumtin jus ain't right, 'da ain no mosquito bite!

If you study CB's loan portfolio you would notice they never ventured into some of the loans territory RBC and BoB went into. CB's consumer loans had a quick turnover and a high interest rate and allowed the bank to keep their non-performing loans within constraints. BoB was to politically exposed and ended up with toxic loans that had little security or collateral to repossess. RBC, despite closing branches, not paying interest on deposits, including term deposits, reducing staff, cutting back on service, still cannot seem to get its head above water, at least not for long. RBC always operated like a monopoly in the Bahamas and is now only finding out what stiff competition in the Bahamas retail market is like. Many feel that RBC is planning an exit strategy from the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries and may only leave a small footprint behind. ScotiaBank, while not fearing as bad as RBC also has its share of struggles to turn a profit.

@muddd-tak-dik. Stop being so near sighted and narrow minded. If Sebas and Flowers were the problem how is it that the banking problems are worldwide? Grow into maturity and stop sounding so petty.

Mudda take dick... is that what you said? LOL

*mudda-tak-sic

the further deregulations by the Trump administration will give US banks an additional $27 billion in profits this year. Are the US banks headed back to the Pre-Obama era where they 'did as they please" and went into bankruptcy?

The problem with FINCO is their management. They know that RBC, the parent would drop them in a heartbeat if they could find the right buyer. Canadian banks, because of their size, can afford to be patient, and the divestiture of their Caribbean assets has been on the table for a long time. It is just not worth it anymore to them, and they are moving into more profitable business lines - like 72 -84 months on a new car loan in the US and Canada.

So the management of FINCO is under stress to produce results. They were seeking growth by putting more and more into the loans business. They kept making more and more marginal loans and that is how they got into trouble. I am told that some lending officers had a quota to "put money on the street".

And the financial industry is procyclical. That means that failures in some areas cause failures in the lending institutions. Marginal or sub-prime loans are a huge bellwether of the economy. It is an indication that the economy is not doing well. In boom times, when people get into credit trouble, the can usually refinance (at a higher rate of course). When they no longer can refinance, that is when the loan portfolio stops performing, which is the case for FINCO -- too many marginal loans seeking higher profits.

I fear that the economy of the Bahamas is due for a further decline. The current FNM government should be putting economic diversification policies in place now, and I see no sign of that. I hope that I am wrong about my prognostications. When I see boom times in other cities (Berlin, Vancouver, Dublin, Hyderabad, Seattle, etc), my heart sinks because we don't have to be in a backwater if we just had some vision at the top. Not seeing any right now. Maybe Bahamians are too parochial to have the mental and cognitive resources and vision to get us out of the deep hole that we are in. Nobody seems to have the problem-solving skills to disrupt the downward slide.

Furthermore a revived and profitable BoB would spell even more trouble for RBC / Finco.