Mottley decries bank treatment of customers, calls for better KYC practices

Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley is calling for the Caribbean banking sector to be infused with greater diversity and competition and to ensure that constraints to economic growth are confronted directly.

She also wants a change in how customer due diligence is conducted, saying the present practices were unacceptable. Such checks are conducted under Know Your Customer guidelines to which banks are expected to adhere.

Speaking on Friday, the closing day of the 31st Afreximbank Annual Meeting and the Third AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum in The Bahamas, Mottley said competition is necessary to respond to de-risking banks in the region.

In Canada, Mottley noted, a bank account can be opened in 10 minutes, but “because of the pressure put on Caribbean countries with the loss and threat of the loss of correspondent banking, it takes two to three months,” she said.

“Our people cannot be financial lepers,” the prime minister declared.

She recounted that at age 16, she walked into Royal Bank of Canada branch and opened an account.

“Nobody asked me anything about a utility bill. Nobody asked me a whole host of questions. And while I understand the need for due diligence, I do know that it can be done far better with competition and that we can treat ourselves far better,” Mottley insisted.

The banking issue was one of three that Mottley, 58, raised during her brief intervention on the closing day of the annual meeting, which was held in the Caribbean for the first time, one year after the continental bank opened a regional office in Barbados.

Mottley who also addressed issues relating to investment and green transformation said Afreximbank has made itself well-known by its presence in the Caribbean.

“We keep looking north for investment but we need to look within and across,” Mottley said, speaking one day after Barbadian businessman Mark Maloney signed a deal to borrow US$100 million from Afreximbank for the construction of a hotel in Barbados and expansion of his cement business.

The Barbados PM also raised an issue she had spoken of two years before: the practice of dividing tourism in the Caribbean between ‘summer’ and ‘winter’ seasons, saying the notion “is a curious designation for me, because I’m yet to see snow fall in the Caribbean”.

If the Caribbean is reclaiming its destiny and charting its future, tourism must be an all-year-round pursuit, she asserted.

“But if you are only focusing on North Atlantic countries, then you will hear about winter and summer because the North Atlantic countries go to Europe and the Mediterranean in the summer,” Mottley said.

She also acknowledged that the absence of a proper transport link has limited the development of tourism in the region.

– CMC