The monopoly of the big boys need to be investigated. All banking policies and practices. Evidence of customer dissatisfaction should be followed up with investigations. Excellent opportunity to have the Privy Council comment on the establishment of an ombudsman to investigate many customer complaints instead of clogging up the COURT system by customers wronged by these banks. Making huge profits and repatriating profits and not paying interest from money here is insane. Controls and investigations are needed. Setting aside provisions for loan losses instead of paying interest should have someone look into why there are loan losses and if due care and attention and negligence can be proven then persons should be jailed instead of being let go with a pay package and recommendation to be employed in the same field.

Beg to differ. Not more but fewer are required. The catchment area given the small population cannot support more. Banks need to make money from customers to operate and grow and given the limited pool on this fixed in size land mass - island, supporting x amount of sources banks can make money to operate and turn a profit hence more licences will cause chaos. We have already too many banks forcing market share to be cut in many slices and fees etc being increased to cover operating expenses and profits - plus segments being shipped overseas to lower operating expenses. Banks here have been allowed to do all sorts of things without care and concern for the public and customer. In Canada mergers are basically a nono because of concern for the customer, here well it happens and Canada is one of the largest countries with New Providence a tiny island. Banks here have considerable leeway in that one may even question the almost identical rates to be pre agreed. Central Bank seem to have little imput with actual example being the many challenges the Bank of the Bahamas has been going through year after after year after year and noone fired and still compete with banks doing correct procedures and paying fortunes to advertise, operate and maintain market share. There has been noone to protect customers, over zealous loan officers seeking to make targets in giving out hard to meet targets set by overseas, Auditors auditing who get paid by the same institution. Collapse of the mortgage brought on by many marginal loans supported by Indemnity insurances in a hurricane prone area and no check on the over use of indemnities paid by customers to protect banks is criminal. Banks more interested in the 45% debt service ratio which has been in existence for over 2 decades and while interest rates have fallen supporting lower loan payments supporting loan amounts noone has look on whether ther remaining 55% can servive living on paying the bills and increasing cost of living on the 55% side. Simply put fewer is better because if there cannot be controls on these we have now it is time to do some trimming to make it fewer which is better for everyone. We need an independent consumer protection agency and an Ombudsman.

Board of Directors should be held responsible and many incidents seem to just disappear with Bankers being escorted out of their offices with obvious recommendations as they reappear being employed in high offices at other businesses. True auditors and professionals educated to the highest standards just seem to review these companies with a sanitized opinion as year after year the problems exist and becomes worse. Central Bank stories indicate that they only deal from bank to bank and therefore if it was otherwise many of these small fires would be put out. However we have had Clico, Gulf Union All the Public money spent and NOONE no Director was ever found guilty is to this day amazing. We need an Ombudsman and cannot give up because as a Financial Centre we will find that outside countries will do the job as we have seen in Commercial Banking where other Caribbean countries with Headoffices make the decisions and we become servants giving up being masters. Just imagine foreigners who have never set foot in your beloved Bahamaland answering the phone to connect you to your local Bank Branch, some person who never set foot in your Bahamaland making decisions on loan applications determining whether you should give out so many loans for cars - possibly second hand cars versus business loans to employ others and grow our economy and we call ourselves a Sovereign nation - incredible!

Good analysis alfalfa. I can add from G to Z and back again but the banks have been given more power to stop them complaining from having to spend millions in advertising, loss in market share, loss in income from allowing the Bank of the Bahamas which has published challenges to continue to operate with funds supporting it in a free market competitive environment which they have to justify to their foreign headoffices. If you think they only pointed out that they foreign offices did not allow them to accept web shop funds, think again.
Incredible! This Bill should be renamed "Banks working with Government Bill to Repossess Homes" Absolute nonsense that Bankers are not held responsible for giving applicants loans that from their recent actions in changing application forms that they were not complicit in causing the loan to go bad because of faulty analysis. Actually agreeing with Banks that every single last mortgage customer got into default all by themselves is nonsense. Bankers have loan targets to meet and their giving out of mortgages is a FACTOR whether the loan officer gets a favourable staff assessment report for a salary increase. Bankers paychecks are signed by the banks NOT the customer. How in this world most young loan officers likely still living in their parents with their parents providing everything ever know of the expenses their mortgage applicants are ever going to face in their new house? No banker is perfect and it is time that we stop worshipping persons who happen to dress in a nice suit with an undershirt, a shirt and a tie containing the heat underneath and this in this hot climate. WHERE are the wanna bees politicians representing the people in this who somehow want to be elected? It appears that this Bill is put together by wealthy persons who know nothing about suffering financially. When there is a bank mistake it is never about a bank giving more money and the suffering customer has no money topay any lawyer! Banks have the deepest pockets to appeal and have the best lawyers. Legal judgements prohibit a huge population from ever borrowing until debt is repaid. This Bill needs to have homeowners imput if it is to at least have the word homeowners in it.

BoB started a campaign on offering their customers the best service with banners stuck in their branches however the situation becomes worse when there are a few tellers and people are made angry. BoB started a campaign to push COnsolidation loans to attract customers , however consolidation loans are the most problematic as you are dealing with alpha customers who have explored all avenues of getting credit which they have no cash and almost likely to repeat causing more challenges and another local bank has also pushing consolidation loans which they have more expertise in handling. The bank should be wound up and amalgamated with two other financial institutions the govt manages the mortgage corp and the development bank. You have three HUman Resources Dept, three computer depts, three Collections Depts etcetcetc. Amalgamate, consolidate, merge, share rental offices, etcetc to better compete. It is insane not to put these three together BUT first to investigate and jail officers who have done wrong. Numerous customers have been living in hell and continue to do so especially those the weakest who ave no recourse to correct. Also time for an ombudsman.

Absolutely incredible! If you have such a problem hen it needs to be investigated! The entire world is watching and with half your portfolio in default to have the government pumping money into the hole without anyone being held responsible after 100 million for guarantee now should have crystallized as 100 million locked in, 40 million in bonds, now coming 30 million, 120 million share value wiped out plus existing govt investment AND noone is responsible! Independent investigation is needed where the Bank does not pay for the investigation. Sadly noone for some reason or the other is able to call for one possibly because all have links or conflicts. The shareholders suffer. Reminds me of the recent lecture by Anne Frank's step sister at the Melia where she mentioned when the Jews were persecuted hardly anyone did anything to help. Investigate loans. If the loan have faults hold the officers responsible, if fraud has been committed they should be held responsible. Customers are going through absolute hell. Write off loans and compensate those customers who may have been wrongly given loans by the banks 'experts' Suspect given the volume of bad loans some customer have been misled and given loans. Do a one time write off. If there is fraud then it is a criminal offense which will undoubtedly be discovered at some point. As a patriotic Bahamian if wrongs have been committed it needs investigations, if the bank needs to be closed so be it, if wrongs have been committed then they should be punished. We do not operate in a vacuum and we are a part of the entire global community where right still prevails and wrongs punished.

You need to run and win a seat in coming elections so you can define what characteristics an 'upstanding citizen' has, bearing in mind that we are the only nation in the world to have in its preamble guided by Christian principles and yet on a 7 x 21 mile island we have so many unchristian characteristics. Its time again to start about who believes in carrying out the law of Hanging.

We have for decades always been a low tax country and NOT a no tax country given that we have paid 1% on mortgage amounts, taxes on values of property bought and sold net and gross, Real Property Taxes from when there was only exemption on $50,000. taxes on valuation of imported goods, etcetc. What seems to be now stated is that we should introduce Income Tax starting with a low amount. This is inevitable to go with VAT and the likely uproar that will go with any further increase from VAT. Given that country's debt service ratio is around 76% over the tipping point with our increasing limited ability to service debt, depreciation, capital works, repairs ans grow plus salaries and ignore alleged corruption and questionable financial dealings sucking vital tax dollars like the Bank of the Bahamas etc., it is crucial that the wealthier start to shoulder some burden that their poorer brothers can carry the same way that they do in more advanced countries and sure to win popular support with the mass voters. Income taxes on the wealthy who can afford it coupled with tax credits should be a campaign issue.

Given that there has not been any investigations of existing major issues already known and resulting persons held liable like the Bank of the Bahamas fiasco where the govt is the major shareholder and massive amounts of taxpayers dollars have to be pumped into it, failures of CLICO, Bahamas Supermarkets where numerous Bahamians are involved and in cases public funds are involved,the allegations of missing funds at a number of Public Departments, inquiries into what happened at Baha Mar where public birthright land etc was pledged and as to why and who knew what and when this massive failure was starting to occur and what steps could have been taken to prevent it and persons held responsible. If one cannot do what is proper and lawful with the massive information available with the aforementioned, then it is bewildering that laws are create to look into and phishing is to occur will be a lawful opportunity for the small man to be questioned while the big and powerful get off. In a small environment what will happen to info gleaned from Reporters private sources, lawyers and clients, Doctors and patients, Financial buying and who is selling shares, Banking transactions, Foreign Investors thinking of investing in certain areas etcetc.

Thank you for your assistance.