The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

EXUMA residents have been left with sharply reduced access to cash after Sandals Emerald Bay restricted public use of an ATM on its property while Scotiabank’s two other machines on the island have reportedly been out of service for months.

A notice issued by the resort said that, effective August 14, access to the ATM will be limited to resort employees, registered homeowners and their guests, Grand Isles team members, authorised contractors and approved vendors.

The decision prompted anger in local WhatsApp groups, with residents saying it deepens a longstanding banking crisis that has forced some people to devise informal ways of obtaining cash and paying bills.

A resort representative declined to comment when contacted by The Tribune yesterday.

Exuma chief councillor Glenn Davis said residents were “pissed off”, particularly because some travel long distances to use the machine.

Mr Davis said Sandals security officials told him the restriction was intended to send a strong message to Scotiabank to maintain its ATMs properly after heavy public use of the resort’s machine.

He said Scotiabank’s two other ATMs in Exuma had been out of service for months.

“You can’t provide a service and don’t maintain a service,” he said.

Mr Davis said, however, that the marina and Grand Isles are licensed to serve the public and cannot prevent people from entering or passing through the area during business hours.

Former Free National Movement candidate Debra Moxey-Rolle said the timing of the decision was especially damaging after recent electricity and communications outages.

She called on Scotiabank, the Central Bank and the Davis administration to improve banking services throughout Exuma.

“This is no longer about one ATM. It is about years of declining banking services that have left Family Island residents with broken ATMs, limited banking options and inadequate infrastructure,” she said.

“These are conditions that would never be accepted in Nassau and they should not be accepted in Exuma or anywhere else in the Family Islands.”

Scotiabank customer Joan Rolle, of Jimmy Hill, described banking services on the island as “absolutely terrible”.

She said repeated ATM failures had forced residents to find alternative ways to access cash. Some people with online banking transfer money into another person’s account in exchange for cash, she said.

Mrs Rolle said others move money through Island Luck accounts so someone else can withdraw it and deposit the funds into their bank accounts for bill payments.

The Gaming Board recently warned that gaming accounts must not be used to receive or hold money for other business or commercial purposes and said misuse could result in investigations and regulatory action.

Mrs Rolle said she sometimes uses a Royal Bank ATM but must pay a $5 fee.

She said the lack of functioning banking services had also made it difficult to make deposits and pay bills.

Area MP Chester Cooper did not respond to requests for comment.

Banking access and service quality have drawn criticism from both the Davis administration and the opposition.

Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell has repeatedly criticised delays in opening accounts, rising fees and other banking practices, and has suggested that legislation may be required to tighten regulation of commercial banks.