By NEIL HARTNELL

and YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporters

San Salvador businesses yesterday voiced concern over the timing and uncertainty created by Bank of The Bahamas’ “temporary closure” of the island’s only bank branch ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The BISX-listed bank, which is more than 82 percent majority-owned by the Government via a combination of the Public Treasury and National Insurance Board (NIB), informed residents: “Please be advised that San Salvador branch is temporarily closed until further notice.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and encourage you to utilise our online banking and ATM (automated teller machine) services for your banking needs.” While a growing number of Bahamians and businesses have transitioned to electronic transactions, many remain wedded to visiting physical branches, and the closure is causing “huge inconvenience” in accessing financial services before Christmas.

However, Neil Strachan, Bank of The Bahamas managing director, yesterday downplayed the impact when contacted by Tribune Business. Replying to this newspaper’s inquiries, he asked: “What’s unusual about this closure? The branch is closed due to operational issues. We will open when the issues are resolved.”

Mr Strachan did not respond to further Tribune Business questions on what exactly these “operational issues” were, or provide a timeline that would give island residents in Prime Minister Philip Davis KC’s constituency more certainty over when branch access will resume.

Sadie Lightfoot, the Columbus Tavern’s general manager, told Tribune Business that while she has online banking and the branch closure will not impact her much, it will cause a problem getting change for her customers. “I just told my husband that he could try and check out Island Luck to see if they have change, but they have to hold on to it for themselves, too,” she said.

San Salvador’s Post Office Bank closed several years ago, and she said: “I’m sure they can find one of the banks in Nassau to send some change for us.”

Another business owner, speaking under condition of anonymity, added: “This is a huge inconvenience considering that we are in the Christmas season, and considering that the bank provides a vital service for the island. For them to be closed at this particular time is a huge inconvenience to put it mildly.

“Often times they don’t have enough US currency because many of the locals have international travel plans during this time of the year.” Tribune Business was told there was a US currency shortage on San Salvador last week, which made it “really distasteful” that there was no banking service at all.

They added: “If the bank knew one of their managers was going to be off and the other one was sick, they should have made preparations to send someone from Nassau to fill in temporarily.” Mr Strachan did not respond to questions over whether the absence of senior staff represented the “operational issues” he was referring to.

Raymond Russell, owner/operator of Island Distributors, said: “I don’t know how long the bank is going to be closed for because if it’s closed for a few days that would be okay, but they have not said how long it would be closed for.”

While he has access to online banking, his major concern is making deposits. “This isn’t the first time the bank was closed,” he added. “They were closed before for over a week. I don’t know how long this spell would be for.”

Getting change has been an “ongoing problem”, Mr Russell asserted, because if there is a queue of persons the bank will run out of cash and merchants would have wasted their afternoon. “If the bank were to open up next week, I can hold on. But if it is closed for longer than that then that’s a whole different story,” he said.