By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The Central Bank’s governor yesterday pledged it is working to ensure no Bahamian is excluded from access to financial services amid fall-out from Bank of The Bahamas’ move to cut South Andros branch hours.

John Rolle said the banking regulator was focused on all Bahamians being able to access banking services via digital channels as Leon Lundy, the South and Central Andros MP, said he will meet with Bank of the Bahamas executives this week to discuss its reduced opening hours in his constituency.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr Lundy said he spoke out in opposition due to frustration over the decision seemingly coming from a “Nassau standpoint” instead of considering the needs of residents.

He pointed out that South Andros has a population of about 3,000 residents, while Mangrove Cay has 1,500, so the decision to slash operating hours at its Kemp’s Bay branch to just one day per week - while leaving its Mangrove Cay location open four days per week - demonstrates that the BISX-listed bank, 84 percent majority-owned by the Government, is not familiar with the population dynamics.

“We have a meeting this week, and I think the frustration was more about making decisions from a Nassau standpoint, rather than knowing exactly what’s happening on the ground on the island,” said Mr Lundy.

“These two communities share a lot, and they were sharing the banking services two days in the south and two days in Mangrove Cay, so for you to switch it up and put one day in the south - which has a larger population - and four days in Mangrove Cay, it shows that you’re really not on the ground getting the proper information.

“And then when you highlight that an ATM is down there, but the ATM doesn’t do deposits, then that highlights another issue that you really aren’t familiar with being in the area.” Mr Lundy said the decision “came as a shock” to the Government as it is working with Bank of The Bahamas to extend services throughout the Family Islands.

“I think we were in the process of actually figuring out how we were going to spread the banking services from BOB throughout other islands, so this came as a shock, basically to everyone. And it was a decision made by the executives, and that’s why I asked them to rethink their decision. And after the meeting this week, hopefully we’ll have a new decision coming out by the executives,” said Mr Lundy.

Mr Rolle, meanwhile, said the Central Bank is working to ensure all residents have access to banking services via digital channels. He added that it is working with financial institutions to improve service and ensure no one is excluded from banking services, while acknowledging it is costly to provide financial services throughout The Bahamas’ archipelago.

Pledging that the Central Bank is working to reduce the cost of providing those services, Mr Rolle said: “The Central Bank does have a vested interest in ensuring that all of the residents of The Bahamas have some access to financial services, and we think that a part of that is also equipping the entire country to be able to access more of the services through the digital channels.

“We also agree, though, that some of what the public is experiencing, they want to see better service level response from the financial institutions. And so, some of the conversations that we do have with financial institutions is how you can improve service level deliveries as you try to get customers to use the alternative channels. But, in having customers use those alternative channels, we are also focused on making certain that no one is excluded from access to those channels.

“We are not going to be able to distance ourselves from the fact that it is very costly to provide financial services in The Bahamas. This is a country of 400,000 people. We sometimes overlook that fact, and so we have to also put continued effort into tackling the cost of getting the services to the population.”

Mr Rolle said the Central Bank will be publishing a consultation paper on agency banking next month to get feedback on how financial institutions can expand services in underserved areas.

“We’re also very soon going to circulate a public consultation paper on agency banking some time during the month of May, and that will basically reinforce our approach to how financial institutions can use third parties, which the Central Bank, supervises to extend the reach of how they provide services in underserved communities, particularly in the Family Islands,” said Mr Rolle.