Protest pressure builds on North Andros banking woe

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The MP for North Andros and the Berry Islands yesterday issued a "plea" for intervention to resolve his constituency's banking crisis with pensioners now forced to fly to Nassau to access funds and conduct financial services business.

Leonardo Lightbourne, addressing the House of Assembly during the 2023-2024 Budget debate, said: “I would like to plead on behalf of the people of North Andros and the Berry Islands for an intervention and the presence of a local bank. An ATM (automatic teller) machine cannot meet the needs of the people. The North and Central Andros community needs a physical presence desperately.

“This is indeed a pressing issue that must be looked into urgently. Additionally, this is important to economic building and attracting investments in these islands. The people have suffered long enough and we need a bank now.”

Mr Lightbourne said the absence of a physical bank branch in his constituency has forced some pensioners to travel to Nassau to conduct transactions, slicing their fixed income in half. Residents also frequently spend hours commuting to the ATM only for it to be out of service.

He added: “The constituents on pensions have to travel to Nassau because there are no banks. What they are actually receiving in their monthly pension is less than half [of what they are entitled to] because they have to purchase plane tickets, find accommodations, transportation etc.

“There is no physical presence of a bank in North or Central Andros, so residents have to drive more than an hour only to find out that ATM is not operational in some cases, which is a major inconvenience and disruption not only for the residents, but a major disruption for commerce.”

The North Andros Chamber of Commerce hosted a Town Hall meeting last week to discuss options for solving the area's banking woes. Donna Pickstock, North Andros chief councillor, told Tribune Business: “I know that banking as we know it, the brick and mortar banking, the face-to-face is quickly becoming obsolete and online banking is the way the world is going now.

"All transactions are transitioning to being done online. But we need a bank here in North Andros, if only once or twice a week, because we still have businesses here and the elderly who want or need that in-person banking. It’s a challenge to the businesses here. I think over the past few months revenue has declined.”

Ms Pickstock added that the current ATM is old and there are challenges obtaining the parts to repair it. She called for at least an additional ATM machine to service the residents of North and Central Andros.

“We only have one ATM machine here and I think that is becoming obsolete; they have difficulties finding parts for it," she said. "They need to put more ATMs in North Andros, at least two, because we also have persons from Central Andros coming here to do their banking.”

Reverend Raymond Neilly said the lack of access to banking facilities is impacting the business community and parishioners’ ability to pay offerings. He added that as a senior citizen he has to endure standing in line for hours, sometimes with the machine going out of service, before he can conduct a transaction.

He said: “The ATM is up now, and then by tomorrow it's down, and it’s the only banking facility that we have - an ATM that is not functioning properly, sometimes for a week. We can’t access our funds at all. We have money in the bank but we cannot access our funds.

“It’s impacting the business places, it’s impacting the offerings in the churches, its impacting our children going to school and I, for example, am a senior citizen and I have stood in the line at the ATM.. one day for two-and-a-half hours and it went down.”

Reverend Neilly called for the Government to assist in resolving these issues, and warned that residents will protest if no action is taken.

He said: “We are saying here in North Andros that it's supposed to be one Bahamas, that we are one nation, and why should we because of our population have to suffer in this kind of way? We believe that the same way the Government subsidises Bahamasair to fly to certain islands because of their small population, we believe that we are entitled to proper banking facilities; modern banking facilities on North Andros just like other parts of The Bahamas.

“We are standing together as a people saying that government must help us. That is what the Government is there to do. Yes, we can try our best to solve our problems, but surely the elected officials are to make their presence known and they are to hear the cries of the people, and not just to hear their cries but to respond to our cries and let us know what are you going to do about our banking situation “

“And we want concrete answers. What is going to happen to us in North Andros? To whom do we appeal if we cannot appeal to those elected to represent us? It is critical here, and otherwise there is going to be a massive protest from the people of North Andros.”

Comments

abs says...

Sand dollar ! This concern is exactly why the sand dollar was introduced. I firmly believe it has the potential to solve the problem but needs a serious and concentrated effort to make it work. People need to know how to use it and then they actually do use it.

I too have experienced the issue where a shop's card machine was down so I had to pay cash. I would have bought more items but didn't have enough cash on hand. The cell service was up so I could have transferred sand dollars if I had them or if the shop was able to take them. ( I would have set up an account too if they could accept them )

I don't see it replacing cash but it definitely could supplement it. It gives another option for payment if someone doesn't have enough cash on them, card machine is down, power is out or any other random thing that happens on the island. Most importantly - it's secure! You don't have to carry bags of cash anywhere. Your staff can't help themselves to the kitty.

Businesses should first be encouraged to accept it as a form of payment - more money goes to them than via credit card anyway (less fees). Then they can educate the customer who comes in. That customer then takes the knowledge somewhere else and so on.

Posted 13 June 2023, 12:58 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

It sounds good in theory but I dont see how its feasible for family islands their infrastructure is too unreliable

Posted 14 June 2023, 3:49 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

Theyre living life like a hurricane just passed through and the electricity and internet are down everywhere. I dont know how the govt forces a bank to open a non profitable branch perhaps the idea suggested of a mobile branch might work.. they have to move the money to the ATM anyway...

Posted 13 June 2023, 2:32 p.m. Suggest removal

DonAnthony says...

The answer to this vexing situation is not that hard, just a terrible lack of vision and regulatory oversight. The central bank should identify the 8 most needy, underserved family island banking communities and mandate as a requirement to hold a business license in the Bahamas that each of the 8 commercial banks have a physical presence in one of them. Just one branch for each bank. First Caribbean Bahamas just reported a net income of $60mill in the first two quarters, do we think for one moment they would jeopardize their business license and not comply?

Posted 13 June 2023, 2:49 p.m. Suggest removal

DWW says...

no.

Posted 14 June 2023, 6:49 a.m. Suggest removal

Dawes says...

Yes and they should do the same for hotels, and the same for supermarkets. Sounds like a great idea. Should they also then mandate that the banks must have a branch for every 100 customers which means nearly every island should have a bank?

Posted 14 June 2023, 8:37 a.m. Suggest removal

DonAnthony says...

Maybe you have a problem with reading comprehension? Nothing to do with hotels or supermarkets. I simply said one branch in an underserved community for each bank in the entire country. Certainly that is not unreasonable, particularly for some banks which are earning a $100m plus net income from the Bahamian people.

Posted 14 June 2023, 9:48 a.m. Suggest removal

Dawes says...

And i implied why stop there, why not have 1 hotel and 1 supermarket in each underserved community?

Posted 14 June 2023, 1:09 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

I'm not sure if that's feasible. 50 people on Ragged Island? Might be 100 now. The banking association as a whole could create a mobile solution where they have a schedule for each island. They could use some infrastructure that's already in place. Years ago money orders through the post office was a common thing

Posted 14 June 2023, 3:47 p.m. Suggest removal

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