CENTRAL BANK’S TENATIVE FIRST STEPS ARE NOT ENOUGH

The Central Bank announced on 3 October 2024, the first tentative steps at limiting the reliance on fees of banks charged by banks. This comes after public demands from Fred Mitchell, Chairman of the PLP,  for transparency and accountability.  These steps are simply not enough but they are a start.  The public must continue to agitate for change and supervision:

The Central Bank has directed Supervised Financial Institutions (SFIs) to comply with the following directives, which will take place with immediate effect:

i. Provide customers with a minimum notice of 30 days of the schedule listing any variation in transaction fees or account charges to be imposed on any product or service, including but not limited to deposit accounts, credit facilities, or any payments-related transactions using cheques, credit cards, debit cards, and digital wallets.

ii. Provide customers with a schedule outlining the estimated or forecasted change in revenue associated with each varied fee or charge.

iii. Provide the Central Bank with the schedule of proposed variations in fees and forecasted revenues, a minimum of 60 days before the proposed change.

iv. Disclose or make readily available to customers the comparable schedule of the varied fees for the same or similar financial products at competitor institutions, as of the date of the notice.

The Central Bank of The Bahamas stated that the conditions of this direction shall take immediate effect for all SFIs.