The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Bank vaults were destroyed and employees threatened by persons desperate to access cash in Hurricane Dorian’s immediate aftermath, the Clearing Banks Association chair revealed yesterday.

LaSonya Missick, who is also Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC) Bahamian managing director, said the industry was working together to develop “shared locations” such as “mobile trailers” in a bid to restore banking services to Abaco more than two months after the category five storm devastated Abaco.

She said automated teller machines (ATMs) “could be back on Abaco within two to three weeks, but added: “It is hard to determine what to give to Abaco because everything is gone.” The restoration of full access to banking services and other financial products is viewed as a critical component to efforts to rebuild the island.

Highlighting the threats to bank and staff security in Dorian’s wake, Ms Missick revealed: “In Abaco, vaults and night deposits were destroyed or tampered with, as well as there were threats to bank employees because persons thought that these employees had access to vault entry information and other cash that may have been in the bank.”

She added that “bank team members are making bi-weekly trips to Abaco to conduct loan assessments for clients” as part of the recovery effort, with the industry in the “mid-term” rebuilding stage where banks have to start “stepping up” with consumer education on disaster relief programmes, digital facilities and encouraging clients to “diversify their asset portfolios”.

Highlighting that many Bahamians may be land rich but cash poor, the RBC chief suggested that some seek to liquidate such assets to build-up cash reserves and savings as a safeguard against future Dorian-type events.

Focusing on the “long-term” post-Dorian, Ms Missick stressed that “digital solutions” and “banking without a physical presence” will be the Clearing Banks Association’s focus for Abaco and Grand Bahama as a test for how this would work throughout The Bahamas.

Speaking at yesterday’s Accountants Week seminars, Ms Missick said customer numbers and deposits/investments may drop industry-wide due to persons leaving The Bahamas in Dorian’s wake. She added, though, that it was too early to forecast any increase in non-performing loans as this would only become evident when bank relief programmes end in February next year

“Client portfolios across all banks may be reduced as a result of clients leaving as a result of the fall-out from Hurricane Dorian,” Ms Missick confirmed. “We have not yet determined the delinquency losses just yet, but we will have a better idea as to what that has done to our books when the emergency deferral payment period is over.”

She said banks have granted loan payment deferrals of between one to five months for persons affected by the storm, and added: “Consumer lending to customers in Abaco and Grand Bahama, and also to those who have left those islands and are now in New Providence, has started.”