You are obviously illiterate failing to understand that bankers have targets to meet in order to get a pay increase. Protectionism is when our birthright is parley to invite hotels etc business and jobs and Bahamians are pursued with huge marketing budgets get loans which should really be investigated as to whether due care and attention was done after Bahamians pay a bank fee for excellent service! Bankers go after customers call real estate agencies looking for prospective customers and other sources to meet their quota. It is quite possible that loan officers can 'lead' the prospect, it is possible existing loan payments can be 'forgotten' to qualify to fit into the 45% Debt service ratio. It is possible and quite likely that budget figures are minimized or not included to show that loans can be repaid. It is quite possible that a thorough application was not done especially in the lunch hour appointment or by archaic forms which when done at best shows a marginal loan applicant and which is covered by a Mortgage Indemnity and all this done by young officers still living at home not aware of true expenses.etcetcetc. My views and which I am thankful is by the respected Tribune paper. We happen to believe in democracy and free speech. Yours In assaulting people with views like mine as your problem would be akin to that of the NAZI where people like me were annihilated in death camps so please change. As a Christian I forgive you.

Turning loans into profitable ones after could only use the same variables both institutions have at their disposal, interest rate, length of mortgage, balloon payments, interest only for a period of time until payment can be increased etc. etc. How can one institution make a profit where the other a few blocks away cannot and has to sell your mortgage? WHY are they allowed to shed liability? Bank profits are affected by the amount of money that has to be set aside for the possible loan loss non preforming or provisioning- same as the Bank of Bahamas situation years ago. The bank does not lose as the house is sold and customer is taken to Court and Judgements lodged against them for life until they repay and they are almost certainly unlikely to ever borrow again. Preposterous that every single 4000 plus defaulted last customer seems so far to be at fault! Bankers have a duty to ensure that customers have a fair chance of success. However as these Banks have their headquarters in other countries it is questionable whether the banking policies and ratios and application forms were ever in the Bahamian customers favour or designed to extract maximum profit. Note that these forms have been changed in most banks after the 4,000 plus defaulted customers tying up some 1 billion. Bahamian mortgage bankers are given mortgage loan targets to meet say 3 million in mortgages depending on the branch location. If these mortgages targets are met the banker is affected in getting a perfect Staff appraisal performance report and thus the salary increase. Bankers who meet these targets are rewarded and in the past it is alleged that bankers who met and surpassed their mortgage to be given out targets were rewarded with thousands of dollars as bonuses and SUV's. Absolutely incredible that where Bahamian mortgages with Bahamian customers in houses can be bought and sold by foreign headquartered banks and no national investigation is done as to how every customer is to blame and no BANK or loan officer is at fault. Investigations are needed. Also incredible that foreigners can answer the phones and know and inquire on all your business and this has been going on for some time and there is nothing done about it. Mind you foreigners can know your confidential business but there is ruckus over the Bahamian court being allowed to know tap into your business. Investigations are needed we cannot allow foreign profit oriented companies to do this to bahamians.

Given such a large amount of loans in default someone needs to call for an investigation into why the banks are suffering such large default rates. Default causes unimaginable pain and suffering to the defaulters who had sacrificed to save up downpayments, legal fees and paid the banks Bank fees to process the mortgage using their best care and attention and (bahamian) expertise to approve and process the loan for success. Additionally, customers have paid the bank thousands of dollars for an indemnity insurance police to protect then bearing in mind the customer must have a debt service ratio of 45% of their income and customers must survive on the remaining 55%. Obviously, if this has not been done correctly there will be defaults or increase the risk. Investigations are needed and customers need to have some agency to go to investigate and protect them. The situation will worsen as VAT has efficiently extracted some 1 billion from what would have been disposable income from the 55% the customers had to survive.

Above. should be where due care and attention was not done.

Bank of the Bahamas. This bank needs serious investigation as to how it got in this situation with government bailout. 100 million support for resolve, 40 million for rights, 10 million for bonds plus 20 million still to go. Some 4000 minority shareholders have seen their shares devalued from around $5 per share to $1.77 thereabout, losing some 120 million in value in days. Loans need to be investigated and where deficiencies are found officers must be held liable. Where due care and negligence was not done, officers must be punished. Not right that precious funds have to be poured in and noone is held responsible. This bank operating with open govt support and in competition with other banks following the rules is not market forces in play especially as other banks form the bulk of shares on BISX. The bank should be investigated especially loan portfolio and where defects or fraud found a n example made of persons responsible plus closed liquidated and combined with the govt Mortgage Corporation and the Development Bank to save with one rent, one light bill, one human resource dept, one loans dept etcetc where money can be saved. Best to have one entity with a chance of survival than three with challenges. It is clear that a rebranding of the new enterprise be done.

Investigations are needed, have been needed but no wannabee aspiring politicion have called for any. They all want to be elected to run a billion dollar Bahamian economy first without asking themselves who would trust anyone if they cannot do the simple things first and call for an investigation.

Given that the second pillar is the Banking Industry and given that more profits have to be made, many of the Banks in following their foreign headoffices have been withdrawing their branches from the Family Islands. Persons go and seek employment where there are opportunities and when the banks close family island operations people follow to Nassau. Family islands are depopulated while Bahamian taxpayers still have to pay for roadways, electricity for govt buildings and only a few population. Investigations are needed in to the Banking industry in the bad loans given out some 4,000 mortgage defaults, a billion dollars of bad loans, billions more in collateral, hardship and untold suffering, misery faced by those who cannot challenge the banks as there are no protections against the banks with the best lawyers and deep pockets. Bahamians give away our birthright to lure foreign investors to build and provide jobs and the employed then go to the banks in Nassau and pay fees and get loans and theprofits flow out the back door to other Caribbean countries where these banks have centres answering phones giving advice and knowing your business, a blatent violation of bahamian confidentiality having some foreign staff and Bahamian profits paying their salaries is absolute betrayal Thousands of phone calls monitored daily by other financial jurisdictions by citizens of other nations when you call your bank. Investigations are needed into why so many loans went bad largest in the Caribbean especially when customers paid a fee for the best advice to get a mortgage with a successful chance of repaying. Bahamian mortgage loan officers having large mortgage targets to give out need looking into particularly as their staff reports is judged. Areas of fraud, negligence and lack of due care and attention need to be independently explored, not by staff or agencies whose salaries or fees the same banks are paying.

Good point. Planned growth is needed. Annually the Bahamas deports some 5,000 plus illegals. Many times the news cites figures like 27 adult males and 17 women apprehended. Somehow there are no children. Politicians also claim that every child is entitled to an education and given free medical and services it is attractive for illegals to have children to have a better life . Coupled with the Haitian culture of 'retyavik' or something sounding like that where children are left with better off Haitians in the hopes of having a better life. The part misconception of Haitian women having numerous children is that the other children may belong to the parents being deported. The end result may very well be that the Bahamas is basically two countries within one geographic area. Search the Bahamas o the internet and in many cases you will see that the Bahamas population speak english and haitian creole.

Very observant. The Defense Force is trained differently than the Police and is is questionable whether their purpose will serve to apprehend and/or dissuade criminals. The sources should be tackled through the CID and intelligence. White collar crimes need to be addressed and if the authorities were better at preventing persons from not paying Customs Duties we would not have graduated to VAT where everyone has to pay and which has been so effectively done and extracted almost 1 billion dollars from the population the majority who can least afford it. White collar crimes, fraud, corruption, land crimes, Quieting, actions of some Boards of Directors - particularly when large companies go bankrupt and public finds automatically to smooth things over etcetc need to be investigated. The scarce public funds should not be used, instead the Directors should be accountable. Easy use of the Military may have unintentional consequences especially when the Tourists start sending photos of the Military in the streets.

Absolutely correct! Plus no regulators. The big boys club. Customers complaints need justice. Lawyers almost always refuse to challenge banks for fesr of being struck off the 'banks approved list of lawyers' There is no competition. For instance all banks use the 45% Total debt Service Ratio, that is 45% of your income to handle all loans one has and uses an Indemnity Insurance to finance up to 95% of the selling price or Appraised value of the house whichever is lower. There is a defect in this because of what is considered loan repayments and monthly fixed repayments also can be added. A customer making 1,000 versus another making 10,000 is different because while the costomer making 10,000 whii eat the same aand almost similar expenses he will be albe to live on 2,000 per month versus the customer having 550 remaining per month to survive. Banks know of this flaw. Many smaller customers have to struggle and catastrophe is likely. Flawed analysis by bankers resulting in customers losing homes need to be investigated and where due care is not done or negligence or fraud is found , these banks must be liable. After a problem the customer has no money to hire a lawyer who is likely to not accept the case. There must be someone or some agency where the customer can go to to get justice!