Higher fees likely

Article by Sanka Price

Increased user fees and staff cuts could be in the offing as local banks and insurance companies seek to recoup their losses suffered under Government’s debt restructuring programme.

That programme offers to swap Government’s financial instruments on which it has defaulted – Treasury Bills, Treasury Notes, debentures, bonds and loans – for new debt instruments which maintain payment of creditors’ principal, but will pay less interest and take longer to mature.

Though president of the Barbados Bankers Association Donna Wellington said she was “not at liberty to discuss this at this time”, veteran banker Harold Russell said the banks are incurring heavy losses from the debt restructuring and would seek to recoup that money.

“They will try to make it up . . . by increasing their fees, by reducing their branches, by reducing their staff, by improving on their computerisation; things like that,” said Russell. (SP)

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