Customers need to be proactive and assertive it is the only language the banks understand. There is a price war going on between local banks for very well qualified mortgage holders. This is especially true with firstcaribbean, scotia bank, and finco. I recently went to firstcaribbean and told them I wanted my mortgage reduced otherwise I was moving it to another bank. There was no argument or hard sell, two days later they confirmed that they would reduce the mortgage 2%. Did not even have to go to another bank and present them with a counteroffer. Saved several tens of thousands over the lifetime of the mortgage! If you are a great customer you have a lot of leverage, threaten the banks and save thousands.

The new fees of these Canadian banks are evil. They fall disproportionately on the poor. Do you think for one moment that RBC charges these fees in Canada? Of course not. The central bank is failing in their fiduciary duty to regulate these fees. They should mandate that these Canadian banks can not charge any fee that is not also charged in Canada. Why gouge us as second class clients? It is simple, every fee is 100% profit and in an environment of a huge portfolio of non performing loans, increased taxes, and no oversight by the central bank to protect vulnerable Bahamians it will get worse. Central bank get your act together and regulate these rapacious, predatory banks.

不是每一个问题都有一个答案

This holdingco for 51% of the second cell license will be an absolute cash cow. That is why cable has fought so hard and spent so much money to gain 49%. It will be like printing money for the shareholders which is why it is WRONG and an injustice not to offer these shares to the general public. Say the expense to roll out the infrastructure for the second license is 150 million, reasonable given cable's existing infrastructure. The share for the holdingco will be only $75 million, which is peanuts to raise in an IPO. Total profits for the mobile market was 74 million last year. Cable anticipates capturing half of this in five years, or 38 million, with the public holding company earning half this or 17 million. So in five years an investment of 75 million will earn 17 million or a return of 23%. Who would not want to receive in dividends a return of 23% per year for many, many years? So the fix is in for the big boys, and the little man in this country has been excluded and disenfranchised in sharing in the wealth of this nation. We as Bahamians deserve better and the task force overseeing this process should immediately reverse this injustice and offer shares to the general public, smallest orders filled first.

Thank you Birdie, well what separates us is far less than what unites us. It will take a lot more than this to keep long islanders down! The govt was adequate but the private sector and individuals were phenomenal. I saw so many extraordinary acts of kindness that my belief in the innate goodness of humanity has been renewed.

Birdie, here we go again. Dividends were paid Sept 29th just three weeks ago.

I live in Long Island and endured the hell of hurricane Joaquin. I must say, and I am no fan of either BTC or BEC, that the local crews did a magnificent job. We are very grateful. BTC rescued me and my family in their bucket truck when other vehicles could not and BEC crews worked around the clock to restore power weeks before I expected them to. At midnight crews were working on poles it was wonderful.

The response from management in Nassau while adequate could have been better. BEC had no drill truck on the island and it took days to arrive, would have expected it here earlier, and BTC had what seemed to be a temporary portable cell tower complete with generator just sitting next to a damaged cell tower for over a week. We should have these portable cell towers on standby to be transported and operating on damaged islands within 24 hours. The defense force took too long to get here, again with us spending 250 million on new ships, a ship loaded with supplies and marines should be here in 24 hours. We need better coordination at the top, with a definite plan of being on the ground within 24 hours in the case of a catastrophe.

The current solicitation of only institutions is open to favoritism and cronyism. If it is to truly be held by the Bahamian People, then let individual Bahamians purchase shares and fill the orders from the bottom up, with smallest orders filled first. The shareholder base will be in the tens of thousands. As currently proposed these shares will be held by a favored few pensions funds, mutual funds etc. This is dishonest, open it to the little man and let him truly benefit not just the big boys!

Really good news in giving the license to a 100% Bahamian owned company. The 51% of shares invested in the new holding company should be offered to the general public and not just to select institutional and high net worth individuals as appears to be the plan of the Task Force. The shares should be allocated from the bottom up, meaning that those Bahamians with the smallest orders should be filled first, before the big boys! This way the shareholder base will be as broad as possible and will give the little man in the Bahamas an opportunity to benefit. This is the way cable Bahamas shares were allocated in the initial public offering under the fnm govt. twenty years ago. Anything less would be dishonest and simply reserving the economic pie for the select few rich and politically connected. PLP do the fair and honest thing and allow the shares to be offered to ALL Bahamians and allocated from the BOTTOM up, so that small orders are filled first.

Are you sure your name is not really Bernard Nottage?