Little impact from travellers cheque halt

The decision by American Express to stop selling travellers’ cheques in the Caribbean has had minimal impact on banks and customers in Barbados.
This is according to newly appointed president of the Barbados Bankers’ Association Glyne Harrison, who explained that the decision to terminate services in the region came at the end of October.
He told the DAILY NATION yesterday that American Express had made the decision after it conducted a review of its operations in the region and determined that “it wasn’t an area they wanted to be in”.
Harrison, who is the chief executive officer of First Citizens Bank (Barbados) Limited, noted that while there was still some demand for travellers cheques from people who were uncomfortable with electronic transactions, “very few people” had been using them.
He said the banks notified customers that the decision to stop issuing the cheques was not a local one and they had been requesting credit cards and debit cards as an alternative. (NB)