The Tribune

By Neil Hartnell

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Royal Bank of Canada's (RBC) top Bahamas executive yesterday pledged to address the challenges encountered by Family Island business clients when it comes to opening corporate bank accounts.

LaSonya Missick, the Canadian-owned bank's managing director for The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands, admitted to the Abaco Business Outlook Conference that "we will not say banking is perfect" given complaints voiced directly to her about the difficulties encountered in opening business bank accounts outside of New Providence and Grand Bahama.

While not detailing these "challenges", she promised that RBC will review its processes to ensure such accounts are opened efficiently to facilitate an improved ease of doing business. "We know there are some challenges that our clients face," Mrs Missick said. "One in particular that stands out is the opening of business accounts in the Family Islands, and how efficiently that process is happening or not happening.

"I can say that I have seen some concerns raised directly with me.... Please be assured that we are reviewing our processes in this area, and we are going to work on the identification of opportunities we have for simplifying and streamlining that process to make it smoother for our Family Island clients."

Mrs Missick, meanwhile, said RBC had reduced its physical Family Island branch network in common with rival commercial banks simply because the extra expense incurred in operating them cannot be justified by the return on investment. "We've seen in the last few years that many commercial banks have closed branches on the Family Islands," she added.

"The reality is that it's extremely expensive to operate a full service bricks and mortar branch on the Family Islands. However, I remain upbeat that with advancements in digital technology and the emerging Fintech (financial technology) industry in The Bahamas, solutions are developing to make it easier for banks to distribute services to the Family Islands beyond the traditional bricks and mortar branches."

The RBC chief said the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated, and driven a faster adoption rate for digital and electronic banking services. "For example, across the collective of RBC in The Bahamas, more than 51 percent of customers use digital banking options on a monthly basis. In Abaco, it's 80 percent," Mrs Missick said.

"The global financial crisis was a turning point for many financial institutions and forced us to evolve, not with a fear of change, but with a vision of sustainable growth. So we evolved our business model, and the evolution was a blend of bricks and mortar branches but also with digital solutions. It was an undertaking that unfortunately necessitated consolidation of some of our branches."

Mrs Missick said RBC was working with the Government and others on improving "financial inclusion" in the Family Islands, while acknowledging that the Sand Dollar "has the potential to efficiently bridge the gap as an affordable payment option in the digital payments ecosystem". RBC has now enabled its clients to top up their Sand Dollar wallets via its digital payments platform.

Meanwhile, Daphne DeGregory-Miaoulis, Abaco's Chamber of Commerce president, said the island is "back in business" with a surplus of job opportunities.

She said: “We have zero unemployment. In fact, we have more jobs than people. We’re actually giving away our jobs. We actually need more Abaconians to come back home. Economically we were the greatest generator outside of New Providence, economically, and we're getting back there.”

She explained that labour and housing shortages remain Abaco’s "greatest challenges" with many properties being used as vacation rentals instead of long-term housing options for locals. She petitioned for the Government to consider some concessions for rentals constructed strictly for long-term tenants.

She said: “Two of Abaco’s greatest challenges today are housing and labour. We would urge our government to come up with an incentive to attract Bahamians to build specifically in a residential capacity, offering VAT and duty-free concessions to build local residences… one, two and three bedroom units and not used for Airbnb needs. That's been a part of the problem. Everything that could be rented has gone into an Airbnb rental.

“We have two new developments coming in South Abaco, we're told, and Montage Cay…is expecting to open their doors in summer. These are all great but what about personnel? Where are they coming from?

“We need to grow our population. We need more people, we need more bodies. New developments are going to need more labour, and we need more consumers with all these new businesses. You know, every day we've got two businesses that are opening up here. Abaco is an opportunity wide open. There's so many different types of businesses, but we need a population that will support that growth and we need more houses.”

Mrs Degregory-Miaoulis also called for an extension to the concessions available on building supplies to aid locals in their rebuilding efforts. She explained that during the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, rebuilding efforts were halted and supplies became hard to access. She argued that the concessions are still needed as many persons have still not acquired the means to rebuild and are living in trailers.

The Chamber chief said: “COVID really put the screeching brakes on everything. We just had our momentum going, everything was cranked up and then, all of a sudden, stop. Those who came to help us had to leave. With the lock downs and the supply chain not being available, you know, it took the wind right out of our sails.

“Originally we were granted three-year [concessions]. As we continue to point out we really only had a bit over a year-and-a-half. The Abaco Chamber is still advocating for extension considerations because so many people are still without homes, so many people still need to rebuild. It's still warranted. We still have civil servants living in trailers. It's been four years.”