Open letter to Governor of the ECCB about bank fees

Re: Objection to Commercial Bank Withdrawal Fees and Monthly Service Charges in SVG

I would like to bring to your attention a matter of grave and urgent concern to the financial welfare of Vincentians. This matter requires your immediate intervention as Governor of the ECCB (the sub-regional regulator of commercial banks). The foreign-owned commercial banks which operate in St Vincent and, the Grenadines have taken the much-storied exploitation of their customers to new and, quite frankly, unacceptable heights. I present this issue from a Vincentian standpoint, but I feel sure that the problem is not unique to St Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

There has been public objection to the withdrawal fees and monthly service charges which have been recently imposed on the clients of Scotiabank, CIBC FirstCaribbean and RBTT. The problem is not simply that many people are not even aware that these fees exist and may lead to the surreptitious depletion of their accounts, as it has to do with the fact that there appears to be no reasonable justification for such fees in the first place.

We see the imposition of the said fees and charges as acts of aggression against bank users and a hostile attempt by commercial banks to lower the effective interest rate on savings accounts through the backdoor after the Central Bank refused to accede to the requests of banking sector lobbyists for a reduction in the minimum interest rate payable on these accounts to below the current level of three per cent. The commercial banks have in effect circumvented the authority of the ECCB and we do not expect you to tolerate this.

The banks in question have already profited from favourable government policies and generous concessions that were meant to put them in a position to pass on benefits to their customers and employees, but which obviously did not achieve the desired objectives. The commercial banks have instead unnecessarily contributed to the creation of unemployment, adopted absurd credit policies and have in general badly neglected the developmental needs of this country. They behave as if they are a law unto themselves and are galloping along on a profit-seeking rampage that must be brought to a swift halt. We, therefore, call on the ECCB and the Monetary Council of the ECCU to take action to arrest the rapacious conduct of all the relevant banks and to have the pertinent fees and charges removed.

We would welcome a position paper by the ECCB on the non-loan strategies that are being employed by commercial banks in their quest for profits. We also respectfully request that this matter be put on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the ECCU Monetary Council, which is scheduled to take place in St Vincent and the Grenadines on July 25, 2014. We look forward to a satisfactory determination of this species of larceny.

Thank you for your attention and consideration.

Sincerely,

R. T. Luke V. Browne

St Vincent and the Grenadines