The Tribune

WHAT has your experience been of opening a bank account?

To say there has been a range of different experiences expressed in recent times would be an understatement.

Sir Franklyn Wilson last week talked of the red tape and bureaucracy that happens before a decision even gets to be made on bank accounts.

He said: “The problem is they keep asking for more documents… the point is it’s the process of getting to the point where they say they have all the documents. They need this, they need a utility bill, they need so many things.”

He added: “A company I’m involved with, we employed a new senior executive, and just to get permission for him to sign the account took forever and ever. Just to add a signatory to the bank account, it went on and on. It’s crazy.”

Paul Moss, president of Dominion Management Services, agreed, saying: “There’s now, from my own experience, no clarity or rhyme or reason for why those document requirements change. It’s so bad for us.”

They were among a number of businesspeople who expressed doubt over claims that 99 percent of new bank account applications are approved – often “in less than a week”.

As they say, maybe by the time the decision actually gets made it is in that timeframe, but the dance to get there goes on and on.

The Tribune has itself had to clear those hurdles, with one effort to open a bank account taking longer than a year.

And if you give up on one bank and try another, well, as Ethan Quant, of Lifestyles Digital Media Group, said, “it’s like you’re switching one devil for the next”.

PLP chairman and Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell had his own choice words on the issue, saying of the claim about 99 percent of account applications being approved: “When you read the details, it said approval within six months. Problem is, we don’t need the account within six months. We need it on the day we walk into the bank.”

In today’s Tribune, financial expert Gowon Bowe says that for most people with straightforward financial situations, the process is typically less than 48 hours.

Mr Bowe is a sensible man, and a level-headed voice in the discussion – but at the same time, other people’s experiences are not being made up.

The problem is with this debate is that it is just that, a debate. As long as it’s just a back and forth of complaint versus justification, we won’t get anywhere.

So how about a legislative solution?

Mr Mitchell has spoken many times about his complaints about the banking system – he is in a prime position to push for action.

Should there be some form of penalties for banks that take excessive amounts of time to deal with an application?

For the banks doing the job well, that would not harm them at all. For those dragging their heels, it would be an incentive to do better.

Should there be a beefed-up complaint process to allow customers to better hold dallying institutions to account?

Good banks want to give good customer service. But the complaints about delays and bad service are too frequent to ignore.

Can all parties recognise the areas to improve? And can we actually do something rather than just more talk?