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| Bank of Jamaica |
Jamaicans Losing Confidence In The Banking Sector
Those in the financial sector should be aware that Jamaicans do not trust the financial industry, and action must be taken to restore that trust. Failure to restore this trust could mean trouble lies ahead. I am one of those who believe that if the people had confidence in the financial sector, then we would not have an Olint nor a Cash Plus. We will recall that we have been FINSACed and SSLed. There was a reason for people wanting to change Jamaican dollars for US dollars. Confidence will not be fully restored until people understand why there was FINSAC. Why was there this period of high interest rates? There are various reasons for people not having confidence in the financial sector.
Dormant Accounts
For example, why do banks have the right to declare your account dormant even when you have other active accounts with the bank? Why should a bank force me to ensure that there are transactions on my account? Why do I pay fees on a dormant account when banks can lend the money deposited to them and earn interest on such funds?
Why does the government have the right to capture dormant funds from the banks? These funds should go to the owner's estate. This is skulduggery sanctioned by law. Why do financial institutions not allow customers to have at least two persons as contact persons on these accounts? These persons could be contacted to assist the banks in locating the customers. Sometimes these owners have become elderly persons and are suffering from dementia. They have forgotten about the accounts. Some may have died or even migrated.
We need to clean up this matter because many Jamaicans are accusing persons in the banks of being thieves.
Credit And Debit Card Fraud
Several people have experienced credit card fraud. The banks need to speak to the people and say what steps are being taken to deal with this challenge. I am one of those who lobbied for years for financial institutions to send us emails for any transaction on our accounts. This has worked. It still amazes me how easy it is for credit and debit card fraud to take place. The banks allow us to use our phone application to control our credit cards, but there is no such feature for the debit card. That is strange. Some banks allow you to tap your credit card on the machine, and this means that if anyone finds your card, they can use it immediately without a PIN. This is ridiculous.
I have made certain personal decisions, such as not allowing anyone to be close to me while I am using my debit or credit card at the cashier. It is unbelievable that many cashiers encourage shoppers to crowd that area. Shoppers will come close to you just to see your PIN or use a gadget to capture your credit or debit card information.
Automatic Teller Machines
The idea of having ATMs was supposed to reduce the traffic in the banks. That is not working. The machines are sometimes out of service, and they do not accept your cash or cheques sometimes. The Bank of Jamaica came up with a reporting system, but the public is not aware of these reports for the various banks!
Online Banking
It seems that the online banking system was not written to make life easier for customers. It was built just to facilitate transactions that are important to the banks. If you want to contact the bank about a challenge, you have to call the bank and spend an extended period pressing 1, then pressing 2, then pressing 4, and after a while, you don't even remember what you are pressing these numbers for.
The banks need to build in a secure messaging system into the application so I can send a message about the problem and get a response shortly after. This would facilitate the tracking of communications with the bank. With the current telephone system, it takes a long time for you to get a response, and after you get a response, the line could drop in the middle of your conversation. You have to call again, go through the same routine, and then repeat all that you said before to the agent you are now speaking to. A complete waste of time. The ability to deal with your complaints online using a secure messaging system means the bank would no longer need to have a call centre in a country where the agents do not understand the way we speak.
Bathrooms
There is little or no concern for the welfare of customers. At many banks you go to, if you need to go to the bathroom, you will have to settle for squeezing your big toe. They will have bathrooms at the banks when people start to pee on themselves inside the bank. Sometimes people have to make a run to the side of the bank to 'spring a leak,' as they say.
These Banking Fees
Oftentimes, these banking fees spring on you like Nikodemus in the night. All fees should be displayed in the bank and also at the ATMs.
The Elderly
The banks should cater for the special needs of the elderly, pregnant ladies, and those who are physically challenged. Your numbering system should facilitate that.
Those Forms
The banks should eliminate the need for customers to fill out forms. Let your agents enter the information into a computer and print the document for the customer to sign. The font size on some of these forms requires the customers to walk with magnifying glasses to read these forms.
General
The banks are busy telling the world how their profits have increased, but it would be good to hear how they are improving their service to the customer. Over thirty years ago, I created excitement in Scotia Bank at the corner of Duke and Port Royal Street because I felt it was wrong to have a pregnant lady standing in line so long.
Recently, I went to the Bank of Nova Scotia to get a new debit card. Oh yes, there are beautiful chairs in the banks these days. I sat in a chair for about two hours with no service in sight.
I went to the counter and told an agent that I would like to see the manager. She asked me if I had an appointment, and I replied, "No."
She declared, "You cannot see the manager at this time. A few knocks on the counter, and the manager came charging out of her office.
I recognized the manager as one of the young tellers who used to work at Scotia Centre. I said to her, "When you were at Scotia Centre, we had to stand in line for two hours. Now we sit on chairs for two hours. We now need beds so we can sleep for two hours before we get service.
It did not take me five minutes to get my new debit card.
Please add your concerns about the banking sector at the bottom of this blog. This blog will be sent to leaders in the banking sector, the PSOJ, and the government.
Bank of Jamaica, you need to shake up the banking system.
Let us unite and send a strong message to the banks. Add your comments at the bottom of the blog and forward this blog to as many persons as possible. Tell them to add their comments also.
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Mista Derby you should be an appointed senator.I wish they had an independent senator position for you.
ReplyDeleteYou have made some valid points and observations which should be taken onboard.
Well stated....the banks are the new great houses on this plantation island....the big great house is the bank of jamaica....one must credit the boj however fir their public outreach efforts as these are really good....the banks are actively pursuing financial exclusion....the massive lines seen islandwide at abm are filled with mostly poor black jamaicans.. the big profits of these institution keeps them in a drunken stupor they will only wake up when we March from stony gut to kings house...shame on jfj ....cac..the churches you are failing the people
ReplyDelete.
Well put together observations my friend. And they are true.
DeleteJFJ is only interested in keeping JLP politicians in line. As for the CAC, are they still operational?
DeleteOh...JFJ are also blinkered on police who defend themselves from criminals.
DeleteI have known about the unbelievable level of disrespect in regards to the customers TIME.
ReplyDeleteIn the past 2 weeks I have had to do some transactions at JNB -NCB & SCOTIABANK.
I have spent on average 1.5 to 2 hrs in each bank.
@ NBC there was 17 customers in front of me.
Yet during all that time, there was only 1 teller serving all of us.
The only time there was a 2nd teller was when it was getting close to closing time.
THESE ARE ISSUES THAT MUST AND CAN BE MANAGED. BY YHE BANK MANAGERS.
I went in serch of bank options by just dropping by the branches and observing what was going on on inside.
Unfortunately they were all the same.
A pile of customers sitting in chairs.
Absolutely disgusting.
Not to mention the common practice of people who are skipping the lines, because they have the MANAGER OR THE TELLERS MOBILE NUMBER
I have had relatives and friends work at the Bank of Jamaica. The truth is, based on the tales, the place is a plantation with persons in executive management having a privileged Great House backra master attitude and opinion of themselves. With that kind of culture and mindset, you are not going to have much regard for the field slaves (bank customers). Now they have their tentacles in the FSC and is attempting to export the same culture there. If they are so inept at regulating banks, what are we to expect in the securities market? I pray we do not have more SSLs.
ReplyDeleteI waited in line for about 45 minutes within the BNS C/Spring branch to use the ATM to lodge a cheque only to discover that function wasn't working. I went outside and waited for about 1/2 hour to use the outside machine only to encounter the same problem.I went back to the bank door only to find it locked....No entry! Impossible. Mrs Tugwell beautiful speaking and big profit is a real turn off!
ReplyDelete