The Tribune

SLOWLY but surely, progress has been made in the discussion over bank accounts and the fees we are charged to use them.

This week, a discussion edged forward on the prospect of compelling banks to offer a basic bank account with regulated fees – not too difficult a thing to ask for, one would think.

This would be an account that would be very limited in nature – but would be an alternative to keeping the money under the mattress.

It is astonishing – not just here but worldwide – how many people still struggle to have access to banking facilities.

And at the heart of the discussion, the two cornerstones are accessibility and affordability.

People get very frustrated when dealing with banks. What seems to be a simple matter can end up with endless rounds of phone calls or long hours of queuing to resolve. Meanwhile, services that used to be a regular part of banking are moved online or made less simple to access within a branch.

Many people value the opportunity for face to face contact with someone rather than having to navigate their way around a telephone system that perpetually has us pressing 1 for this, 2 for that, or online banking that may not make it easy to work out how to do something that used to be easy to do in person.

For some, simply getting a bank account is an issue. Many businesses have complained about how long it takes to open an account – an issue we have experienced first-hand in recent times.

Earlier, we said this is an issue worldwide – and so it is. Over on the UK Guardian site yesterday, two stories highlighted the problems there. One was a survey showing that the Yorkshire area had 4.4 branches for every 100,000 people, leaving each resident in the county sharing their branch with 22,557 others. Imagine that queue.

Meanwhile, another story reported on a veteran BBC broadcaster who was saved from a scam that would have cost her thousands of pounds by a vigilant bank cashier – exactly the face-to-face contact that so many of us wish we had.

Worldwide problems, worldwide solutions – the discussion of a basic bank account has been prompted with reference to a similar offering in Jamaica. Sometimes we do not have to look too far to see the answers we need.

Of course, The Bahamas is a different landscape to many other areas in the world. With our chain of islands, ensuring access to financial facilities for every Bahamian is a task made greater by the water that separates us. We often hear stories of ATMs on Family Islands that are out of action for weeks, months.

In today’s Tribune, Gowon Bowe, a level-headed figure in the financial world, says that basic bank accounts would only help less than ten percent of the population – but that banks would not oppose such a facility. Ten percent is ten percent, however, and if it gives people an option they may not have – although Mr Bowe notes that some banks do offer such a facility – then it is a good thing.

Best of all though is that the discussion is being had. That is the way we move forward.