J'can bank charges and practices under investigation

[Lazie]

THE Governor of the Bank of Jamaica is to conduct a study on bank charges. Finance Minister Audley Shaw said the investigation will also look at best practices, to compare fees imposed on bank customers in Jamaica, to those across the region, as well as internationally.
The study was ordered following reports of banks charging customers to make deposits, which Shaw described as "quite ludicrous."

"But of course, the bank charges is only one side of it. The overall interest rate structure is the other side of it. When treasury bills go up, the banks adjust it within a matter of days if not hours, and when treasury bills go down, and are sustainably going down, there is a certain sluggishness there that is challengeable," he said.
In light of this, he advised the institutions to "look at a swifter pace of reduction, so that the purposes for which commercial banking were invented can be achieved - to be the locomotive to drive a market economy that is based on increased productive capacity and earnings."
Meantime, Shaw has called on commercial banks to be the driving force behind the growth of the entrepreneurial sector in the country.
He says small businesses want to invest, but the commercial banking sector "has to be the mainframe behind how we can get that investment going".
Shaw said banks could assist entrepreneurs by "knocking on doors" and suggesting that business owners develop proper plans.
"Maybe banks could set up a little window....have an incubator section in the bank that they help to perfect business plans," he said.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/busin...gation_7930310

[Gamma]

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lazie]

... but if a bank a charge fi mek a deposit, simply find one that will take it for free then move your accounts there.

[Lazie]

Lower bank rates could lead to job losses

Scotia Group President and CEO, Bruce Bowen, has indicated that if interest rates and bank fees are to be reduced, the result could be job losses in the banking sector.
The banker, who was speaking at a Rotary Club meeting earlier Thursday afternoon, said the prevailing high interest rates and bank fees are a result of the high cost banks face to operate.
The Scotia head said, in his organization, he is trying to drive down operation costs, and indicated it could result in some job losses.
“The bottom line is that we just need to be able to delivering the services at a lower head count in order to achieve that so that’s one of the big priorities that we have,” he said.
He said Scotiabank is trying to direct some transactions to electronic channels to help cut costs as he highlighted that salaries and wages cost the Scotia Group $7 billion each year.
Mr. Bowen said it is an attempt to supplement those costs that is the reason behind some of the bank fees that are now being charged.
“If we charge no fees, we need a wider margin and a wider spread. The philosophy is where we can identify a specific cost related to certain types of transactions that everyone doesn’t do, to the extent that we can attach a fee to those services so we don’t have customers that aren’t using that service subsidizing those that do,” Mr. Bowen said.

http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/lo...ead-job-losses

[Gamma]

and if they ALL have that policy? csnnot speak specifically to that issue but i can tell you that the banks employ similar policies (not all of them nice) ans it becomes a question of which one yuh might have a few shares in...

[Mosiah]

I'll start celebrating when something is done. Yuh nuh Scotia a whine arready that lower interest rates will result in job losses?

[Willi]

After yuh mek all the effort fi open the dyam account already?

Nowadays fi open an account harder dan applying fi a US visa!

[Hortical]

Jamaica desperately needs bank regulations to assist the average consumer. I was observing a friend the other day complete several forms for a loan and the terms were like loan sharking. There were monetary penalties for paying the loan off early, additional fees assessed for prepayment, and don't let me even mention the mafia interest rate.

[1of1]

they(Scotia) reported a whole lot less earnings for this year so far

[Mosiah]

try opening a business/corporate account in Jamaica!

[Mosiah]

perhaps, but still might have made billions. nah sorry fi dem.

[Hortical]

It is not easy to open a new bank account. I can open a bank account in America in about 5 minutes, and less than that if I open a bank account on the internet. To open a bank account, you need the forms notarized, copy of a bill that shows your home address, and it has to be signed by two witnesses. This occurred at one particular unnamed bank in Kingston.

[Mosiah]

highway robbery!

[1of1]

all of them have some charges that make you go hmmm!.
so I guess you have to pick your poison

[1of1]

me neither