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.
Other ways consumers can save cost is to cancel Cable TV which just went up in price and don't buy BTC's IPTV. Cable TV is low definition crap and you can get HD TV using an Apple TV, Google TV or Amazon TV box which connects to your internet. You can then get Netflix for movies.
Also you don't need a fixed line to your house if you have a cell phone. Save that money too!
With VAT making the cost of living higher consumers need to cut cost somewhere. Why not start with communication costs.
I accidentally left my roaming on while traveling abroad and came back to a massive BTC cell bill. Instead of complaining to BTC I called Sprint in the US and they said they had free roaming and internet in the Bahamas and all you needed to pay for to call to and from the Bahamas was 20 cents per minute.
They said a lot of Bahamians in Freeport were doing this to cut out the cost of using their Bahamian phone while in the US.
So I cancelled my Bahamian cell phone and got a US Sprint phone. My friends in the Bahamas now call me on WhatsApp for free, I can send text all over the world for free and I get free internet when I'm traveling along with a hot spot for my laptop. Brilliant!
Also, I can get discounts and shared data from Sprint's Friends and Family plans.
Best of all I don't have a bill from BTC!
Lol...by the time Cable lays out its hundred million dollar cell network a lot of Bahamians will have gotten phones in the United States.
Ohhh...I forgot, take a look at these stories on Chinese construction quality. So, they will complete the construction and try to sell the hotel to top quality US hotel chains and property investors? Lol...
there are buyers but the bank would have had to take a big write-down on the loan balance. so now they think they can finish the project and then sell it to someone at full price...lol.
So these foreign banks pay dividends of tens of millions of dollars to their head office in Toronto, transfer jobs to another jurisdiction and the government does nothing?
Ahh yes, the government did do something. It increased our taxes with VAT and are about to increase our taxes again with NHI.
Fewer jobs, more taxes, more government debt, low employment, no hope = ?.
The government loves to double and triple tax Bahamians and then wonder why the country can't grow, unemployment is so high and crime is out of control. No amount of national plans, international loans to audit the government, constitutional amendments will compensate for ignorance. These projects only serve to enrich the professional class.
Take for example the triple tax on goods brought into the country. First duty is charged, then VAT is charged on top of duty and then the merchant has to pay a business license fee on gross sales (the same items sold to its customers). That's a triple tax!
Double and triple taxing a product is a dis-insensitive to spend and grow the economy.
So here we go again with NHI. Greg Moss is right why should we pay to go to PMH when we are paying for it already to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars per year? Why would collecting hundreds of millions more in medical insurance taxes make the system more efficient and save lives? Like the VAT money all that will happen is that the money is wasted and the Country will be in even further debt.
Why should private doctors be able to use PMH at subsidized prices? Again the professional class getting handouts at the expense of the poor.
observer2 says...
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....
On Bank of Bahamas still violating key capital indicators
Posted 15 February 2016, 4:28 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
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...
On Liquidation regime bar to $17m asset recovery
Posted 15 February 2016, 4:15 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
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.
On BTC’s 9% mobile fall undermines its owner
Posted 13 February 2016, 7:46 a.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
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.
On BTC’s 9% mobile fall undermines its owner
Posted 12 February 2016, 4:06 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
Other ways consumers can save cost is to cancel Cable TV which just went up in price and don't buy BTC's IPTV. Cable TV is low definition crap and you can get HD TV using an Apple TV, Google TV or Amazon TV box which connects to your internet. You can then get Netflix for movies.
Also you don't need a fixed line to your house if you have a cell phone. Save that money too!
With VAT making the cost of living higher consumers need to cut cost somewhere. Why not start with communication costs.
On BTC’s 9% mobile fall undermines its owner
Posted 12 February 2016, 4:02 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
I accidentally left my roaming on while traveling abroad and came back to a massive BTC cell bill. Instead of complaining to BTC I called Sprint in the US and they said they had free roaming and internet in the Bahamas and all you needed to pay for to call to and from the Bahamas was 20 cents per minute.
They said a lot of Bahamians in Freeport were doing this to cut out the cost of using their Bahamian phone while in the US.
So I cancelled my Bahamian cell phone and got a US Sprint phone. My friends in the Bahamas now call me on WhatsApp for free, I can send text all over the world for free and I get free internet when I'm traveling along with a hot spot for my laptop. Brilliant!
Also, I can get discounts and shared data from Sprint's Friends and Family plans.
Best of all I don't have a bill from BTC!
Lol...by the time Cable lays out its hundred million dollar cell network a lot of Bahamians will have gotten phones in the United States.
http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2016…
On BTC’s 9% mobile fall undermines its owner
Posted 12 February 2016, 2:15 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
Ohhh...I forgot, take a look at these stories on Chinese construction quality. So, they will complete the construction and try to sell the hotel to top quality US hotel chains and property investors? Lol...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/03/reale…
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1932144…
On Receivers ‘dual approach’ for Baha Mar resolution
Posted 3 February 2016, 4:10 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
there are buyers but the bank would have had to take a big write-down on the loan balance. so now they think they can finish the project and then sell it to someone at full price...lol.
On Receivers ‘dual approach’ for Baha Mar resolution
Posted 3 February 2016, 3:14 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
So these foreign banks pay dividends of tens of millions of dollars to their head office in Toronto, transfer jobs to another jurisdiction and the government does nothing?
Ahh yes, the government did do something. It increased our taxes with VAT and are about to increase our taxes again with NHI.
Fewer jobs, more taxes, more government debt, low employment, no hope = ?.
On RBC outsourcing more jobs to Trini
Posted 3 February 2016, 3:09 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
The government loves to double and triple tax Bahamians and then wonder why the country can't grow, unemployment is so high and crime is out of control. No amount of national plans, international loans to audit the government, constitutional amendments will compensate for ignorance. These projects only serve to enrich the professional class.
Take for example the triple tax on goods brought into the country. First duty is charged, then VAT is charged on top of duty and then the merchant has to pay a business license fee on gross sales (the same items sold to its customers). That's a triple tax!
Double and triple taxing a product is a dis-insensitive to spend and grow the economy.
So here we go again with NHI. Greg Moss is right why should we pay to go to PMH when we are paying for it already to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars per year? Why would collecting hundreds of millions more in medical insurance taxes make the system more efficient and save lives? Like the VAT money all that will happen is that the money is wasted and the Country will be in even further debt.
Why should private doctors be able to use PMH at subsidized prices? Again the professional class getting handouts at the expense of the poor.
Shame.
On Greg Moss: NHI charging Bahamians a second time for public health care
Posted 3 February 2016, 2:31 p.m. Suggest removal