Mark: Why no action against banks?

OPPOSITION Senator Wade Mark yesterday questioned why Government didn’t take action to force local banks to reduce their charges, in the same way it did with poultry producers. Government had threatened the chicken producers with the removal of the import surcharge in an effort to get them to reduce chicken prices. However, Finance Minister Conrad Enill, in responding, told the Senate yesterday that banks dealt with long-term finance “and therefore this Minister will not do anything to interfere with the financial services sector.”

Enill stressed however that Government would continue to ensure that whatever benefit it gave to the banks was passed on to consumers. He also noted that there was a Banking Ombudsman to whom consumers could take complaints about bank charges. Enill’s comments came in response to a question by Mark who asked what steps Government was taking to arrest the “continued imposition of excessive bank charges levelled on private citizens?” The official reply to the question came from Attorney General Glenda Morean who stated that Government was committed to working with all stakeholders — the Central Bank, commercial banks and banking customers, to ensure that consumers were treated fairly. She noted that the Minister of Legal Affairs, Camille Robinson-Regis had raised an alarm on the issue of bank charges and fees, against the background of numerous reports lodged with the Consumer Affairs Division of the Ministry of Legal Affairs as well as letters and articles in the press on the issue.

She said two months after Robinson-Regis’s comments (which were made during last year’s Budget debate) collaborative meetings were held with Governor of the Central Bank and representatives of the Banking Association. She said “immediately” steps were taken by Central Bank in collaboration with the Consumer Affairs Ministry to establish a consultancy aimed at analysing the operations of the banking sector. It collected data on the scope of information on fees charged by banks such as bank charges, saving accounts and loan charges.