We have 2 cars, we are going to sell one and make do with one.

Cost of living is too highly.

I suggest all consumers look carefully at thier recurring expenses like cable, Internet, BTC etc and cut back wherever you can.

Even worser times are coming.

Thanks banker!

Hi John, RBC made C$2.4 billion in its most resent quarterly report. An increase of 4% over last year. Please see the following link:

http://www.rbc.com/newsroom/news/2015/2…

Year to date their share price is down 7% due to the recent stock market turbulence but their dividend is intact. In fact if you read the attached press release you will see that they increased their dividend by 3%.

John you are confusing RBC with FINCO which is a tiny part of this well capitalized global bank. If something happened to finco, rbc will be able to back it with their global capital base. The Bahamas government is also backing the BoB with a "commitment letter" but it would surely need to borrow funds to recapitalized the bank if push came to shove.

The difference in parent and capital backing makes a comparison of rbc finco and BoB not appropriate and misleading. I am sorry if I have offended you. It is not my intention.

While FINCO may not be paying a dividend and its share price is down they are in compliance with Central Banks capital ratios and they are run with an independent board.

The problem with BoB is its linkages to the wider economy. Government is its largest depositor, its largest shareholder, its largest borrower, it appoints all of its Directors and its management maybe sympathetic to the current administration. Since the government runs its books on a cash basis and not GAAP it is in no hurry to realized possible losses they maybe lurking on the balance sheet of BoB due to its inability to make new loans and aggressively sell off poor performing loans.

In essence BoB is a "zombie" bank similar to BDB. Not exactly alive but far from dead. NIB is loathed to inject further capital as it has ever increasing obligations to the Bahamian public as the economy continues to have lack luster growth.

What the Government should to is to commence and orderly liquidation of the Bank due to its lack of capital, which inhibits it from growth. BoB cannot be turned around without fresh capital. Where will it get the money from to make new loans? The public would be horrified if the BoB said it was making new loans and growing its balance sheet when additional capital is need to meet minimum regulatory capital requirements.

John, your information is inaccurate. On a consolidated basis RBC is s well run, profitable and well capitalized Canadian bank with independent directors.

BoB is an undercapitalized, unprofitable, Bahamian government controlled entity. It's Board of Directors are all political appointees.

No independent director will join its board because the first thing they will need to do is close it down and launch a costly forensic audit.

The government, regulator and exchanges strategy is to monitor its operations and "kick the can down the road". This never ends well as banks are intrinsically linked to the broader economy and systemically important. They are treating it like Bamsi, Baha Mar or the Post Office Bank.

...by the time you pay VAT, customs duty, BEC, business license fees, pay for security, risk your life in a small business ya really needs ta tink twice

MonkeeDoo, you are right. Everyone I know is trying to get money out of this Country before a further credit downgrade, a blowup at BoB, the national debt going past $7 billion or the VAT money is used and the current account goes back to $200m per quarter losses. Remember we have an election next year...in election years the government usually spends about $1 billion to "renovate" the country.

John, the fact that the regulator and the stock exchange have taken no action against a systemically important financial institution to the Bahamian economy speaks volumes.

By allowing the bank to continue to operate while being under capitalized reduces confidence in the financial system.

The question remains how much of an additional injection does National Insurance need to make into the Bank of the Bahamas to bring their capital ratio's back to the minimum 12%? $10 million? $50 million?

You can't know the exact number because it is a moving target because the bank continues to operate under capitalized which continues to exacerbate the problem as more loans become problematic in the normal course of business.

At the end of the day the Bahamian financial system is negatively effected both actually and perceptually. This reduces the confidence of investors in the Bahamian economy and the Bahamian dollar as the Central Bank and BISX have lost the appearance of independence from the executive. The actions of the current central bank governor will be watched closely by market participants. Keeping in mind the Bahamas is currently at risk of being downgraded by international credit agencies.

I think you know where I'm going with this argument....

This is what happens when the Executive and Legislative Branches of Government are largely derived from Parliamentarians making $28,000 a year. While the Parliamentarians are pontificating on petty political nonsense, going to Cabinet and doing their "day jobs" they just don't have time to ensure the details of legislation that was passed is being properly executed. Neither do any of them have any staff to do the detailed checks. What good are laws if they are not adhered to or correctly implemented?

I guess the opposition will now blame the Attorney General or someone else in Government. But the opposition is culpable in this as well as they didn't discover the oversight either. So the blame game goes on and on and on...

Excellent point Emac. If URCA was up to date with how quickly technology is advancing and wanted to truly provide choice to the Bahamian public they would allow the global internet phone service companies you mentioned (Magic Jack App, Viber, FB or Messenger, Google Hangouts, Skype, Nimbuz) to issue 242 area code numbers.

URCA's policy of not truly deregulating wireless communications hits the poor hardest through the selling of outrageously priced minutes and the quick expiry of those minutes as they don't have internet service in their homes nor a post paid cell phone.

URCA's policy is also leading to the mis-allocation of capital as Cable Bahamas and the government take on hundreds of millions in debt to fund a second cell license. Take a look at the balance sheets of US cell phone companies (e.g. Sprint, T Mobile etc.) and you will see over leveraged (debt laden) utility companies with low income levels. Cable Bahamas is starting to look like them already. Shareholders take note.

Sheeprunner, the US regulators have stopped US Cell Phone companies from charging their customers for roaming which is a ripoff. That is because many times when you are traveling your phone is downloading a lot of stuff you would not down load if you knew you are paying for it.

BTC still charges for roaming which is a ripoff.

Also, have you noticed how quickly your cell phone minutes expire? Our regulators need to look into this rip off of the Bahamian public.