Dear Editor,
Former Prime Minister Bruce Golding has chimed in and seems to justify the high fees and charges that commercial banks levy on their customers. No one will disagree that banks should covers costs and make a profit. However, the reasons given for these "much to do about nothing" high fees, according to Patrick Hylton, is not the whole truth.
Apart from the high salaries paid to top brass staff in the banks, the banks lose millions of dollars every year through fraud and theft, a loss that, I think, is passed on to customers. Bank fraud is more prevalent than we think. We should remember some time ago a resident magistrate, in response to the number of bank employee on fraud cases before her, declared in the Half-Way-Tree court words to the effect that: I will have to go up there (to the bank) to ask what is happening.
It is an open secret that there are embedded white collar criminals, some of whom are bank employees, even managers; civil servants in the tax and motor vehicle department; etc who attempt fraud on banks.
I am privy to a case where a fraudster presented a withdrawal slip at a branch of a certain bank. An alert employee discovered the fraud and reported to management. Sadly, no one bothered to call the police; they simply told the fraudster to go to the branch where the account was opened. Tell me, what kind of response is that? One hopes they set up a sting operation.
Someone from the banking industry should tell us how much banks have lost through fraud. While we are at it, Mr Hylton should tell us, in light of this high fees and charges, has the service to customers improved? And why does it take a customer, on a given day, an average of two hours to conduct a transaction, yet banks are cutting staff?
I think that it is a problem that stinks to high heavens.
Authnel Reid
authnelreid@optonline.net
More to bank fees that they are saying
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Former Prime Minister Bruce Golding has chimed in and seems to justify the high fees and charges that commercial banks levy on their customers. No one will disagree that banks should covers costs and make a profit. However, the reasons given for these "much to do about nothing" high fees, according to Patrick Hylton, is not the whole truth.
Apart from the high salaries paid to top brass staff in the banks, the banks lose millions of dollars every year through fraud and theft, a loss that, I think, is passed on to customers. Bank fraud is more prevalent than we think. We should remember some time ago a resident magistrate, in response to the number of bank employee on fraud cases before her, declared in the Half-Way-Tree court words to the effect that: I will have to go up there (to the bank) to ask what is happening.
It is an open secret that there are embedded white collar criminals, some of whom are bank employees, even managers; civil servants in the tax and motor vehicle department; etc who attempt fraud on banks.
I am privy to a case where a fraudster presented a withdrawal slip at a branch of a certain bank. An alert employee discovered the fraud and reported to management. Sadly, no one bothered to call the police; they simply told the fraudster to go to the branch where the account was opened. Tell me, what kind of response is that? One hopes they set up a sting operation.
Someone from the banking industry should tell us how much banks have lost through fraud. While we are at it, Mr Hylton should tell us, in light of this high fees and charges, has the service to customers improved? And why does it take a customer, on a given day, an average of two hours to conduct a transaction, yet banks are cutting staff?
I think that it is a problem that stinks to high heavens.
Authnel Reid
authnelreid@optonline.net
More to bank fees that they are saying
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