The local credit union has 150,000+ members.
Two articles in the Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper caught the eye of those who are not fixated on navel gazing on the shitty affair ‘unfurling’ on the South Coast. The obvious question is what does it mean? Clearly CIBC- and we include the other Canadian banks operating in Barbados- are concerned about the current and future state of regional economies and have taken decisions to mitigate risk driven by concerns by shareholders whose concern is always to create share value and to satisfy the forecast of the financial analysts.
Some suggest there are indigenous financial intuitions that can fill the void if the Canadian banks were to withdraw from the Caribbean, the credit union unions come quickly to mind. Some question if the credit union movement in Barbados is ready to operate at the level required to deliver a best in class service in a global market fraught with regulation. We are not questioning if the cooperative model can deliver financial services to participants, a look at the balance sheets of the leading credit unions in Barbados suggest there is work to be done to ensure key acid ratios are met.
The Canadian Globe and Mail articles highlight the level of debt which Barbados has accumulated and the volatility of oil price that has negatively impacted Trinidad’s economy. These are two of the key markets in the English speaking Caribbean that have undergirded the stability of the regional economy in the post oil-crisis period of the 70s. The trivializing of credit rating downgrades and an inability by regional governments to address structural fault lines in our economies that are known by the policymakers must not instil confidence in the boardrooms in Toronto and elsewhere.
The reality is that replacing international institutions with indigenous ones will not address the underlying factors at the root of failing and poorly performing regional economies. The lack of interest by Canadian financial intuitions is symptomatic of a lack of leadership with the result, conspicuous consumption behaviour driven mainly by the globalization construct. Just look at Barbados to confirm the ease with which we- through our representative the government and private sector- have sold our best companies to non Bajan interest. What assets and symbols do we have left to define who we are as a people? How will our children define success in the context of nurturing Bajan esprit de corps?
The BU household has written voluminously for 10 years about the need to remove the weeds from the lawn. The weeds have sprouted to bush. ALL of the regional economies are now heavily indebted nations with decaying infrastructure and limited fiscal space to drive development. Our politicians who ‘lead’ in the model of government we practice continue to rollout policy directives that pander to feathering popularity and satisfying those behind the curtains with the money to finance political campaigns. The people can be characterized as ‘sheep’ in the process.
History is the teacher to portend how this will play out- Crash, Burn, Rise!
Here are the Canadian Globe and Mail articles.
- CIBC aims to double share of profits from U.S. operations
- CIBC mulls offering Caribbean subsidiary on U.S. stock markets Subscriber content
The footnote to this submission is that in Barbados we pride ourselves on being an educated people yet we have demonstrated a lack of ability to manage home grown institutions and to leverage the investment in education to separate Barbados from the rest. Why bother to invest in education if this is the result?
@Northern Observer
Read your postings to the Entrepreneur Corner, thanks!
I was wondering why the credit unions have not been able to purchase these accounts, they should be liquid enough, although I dont think they have the greenlight to offer wide ranging services as banks do.
…. better yet, Bajans should take their money out of the foreign banks and use their local credit unions more…there is no telling who will show interest on the NY stock exchange and why…none of which will bode well for local account holders…because sharks reside and swim in the stock exchange waters.
credit unions could easily over take banks if they allowed people to inherit there parents place in the teller line.
Canadian Banks are doing what they are established to do, make profits. Nothing wrong with that. Barbadians should do the same. Set up and own businesses to make profit. Consumers and owners benefit there by. And so do the taxpayers. The world does not owe Barbados anything.
@Bernard
You state the obvious, do you think Bajans would support a local bank in the same way we do the entrenched Canadian banks. A comparison to the citizens in the EC sites, Jamaica, Trinidad clearly shows that Barbadians are inclined to support foreign first.
If these clowns for ministers really gave away the Hilton, they are the most stupid, backward fools to ever sit in parliament and should be severely punished by the electorate…for the secret sale.
“This newspaper has been reliably informed that the authorities here have signed off on the sale of Hilton Barbados, this country’s internationally branded showpiece hotel, for US$80 million.
Our information is that London and Regional Properties, owned by Richard and Ian Livingston, who control the prestigious Fairmont Royal Pavilion Hotel on the West Coast, will be the new owners of Barbados’ pièce de résistance of our year of Independence, 1966.
We have been further informed that a company known as Broadspan Capital, that specialises in cross-border financial transactions in the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America, are the brokers engaged in the sale.
London and Regional Properties is a privately held Baker Street, London real estate company that oversees luxurious properties in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. Broadspan Capital operates out of Miami, Florida, in the United States.
The acquisition of Hilton Barbados would add an iconic island resort to the impressive collection of global leisure investments held by London and Regional Properties. (BARBADOS NATION)”
David 1:14 AM
You are gazing so far into the past and future that you do not see the obvious right in front of you.
We recently owned Hilton we have allegedly given it away at a price far below its cost and true market value.
We set up and owned BNB and ICBL and sold them below their market values.
Barbadians supported all three of these institutions. I need not go farther into the past and mention substantial holdings which Barbadians held in BL & P , Cable and Wireless, Banks Brewery , Barbados Mutual etc.
I am not here to engage in idle discourses . I am here to correct misinformation and faulty logic .
@Bernard
You divorce the action/decision of the government from the people? The BNB was sold because of alleged poor management and losses and as Arthur opined with a miniority shareholding the government was able to earn greater profit. As far as the Hilton goes this is an entity in the hospitality sector not so? etc etc. The government is the people Sir.
BERNARD
I am not here to engage in idle discourses .
YOU REALIZE THAT THAT IS MOSTLY WHAT HAPPENS ON BU…….I HAVE LONG DECIDED TO JOIN THE CLUB
I am here to correct misinformation and faulty logic .
I WISH YOU GOOD LUCK THERE SIR BUT WHAT YOU STATED ABOVE IS VERY ACCURATE
It is worth plagiarizing a parable attributed to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He is reported to have said” The European missionary gave Africans the Bible and said :” Close your eyes and let us pray”. When the Africans opened their eyes, they had the bibles but no land”.
We spend plenty of time discussing reparations and perceived symbols of racism and are swiftly losing the fruits of the labour of our forefathers. But David you may carry on smartly.
Not sure Bernard what you have stated that conflicts with BU’s position. If there is a disagreement you appreciate this will occur in a public forum right?
@ David at 11:45 AM
If you believe that private corporations buy unprofitable government institutions you are certainly misinformed.
Furthermore, the International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of the World Bank ,does not lend money to buy nonprofitable state corporations. It would be useful to look past the messengers and analyze their statements meticulously. Better still review the financial reports of these corporations before they were sold.
Smoke screens and mirrors. We do like Magic Shows, do we not?
@Bernard
A man of your know how must be fully aware that the agriculture/sugar loans were hived to the agency created by government to sweeten the BNB deal?
You div orce the action/decision of the government from the people?
The BNB was sold because of alleged poor management and losses and as Arthur opined with a miniority shareholding the government was able to earn greater profit.
The sale of the BNB was sold the worst act of economic sabotage to have occurred in Barbados since independence, and was the outcome of the most appalling and unforgiveable act of ignorance of financial economics this side of the Second World War.
The simple nonsense of bad management and losses could have been out right. But undermining the great opportunity to stabilise the financialisation of Barbadian businesses and households will keep us underperforming for at least another decade.
Also, the fact that people in London were told before the employees of the BNB is the most outrageous act of industrial relations. Sadly, even now, Barbadians do not even want to discuss the matter. Preferring to be at the beck and call of foreign-owned banks. We are still paying the pric e.
@ David at 12:06 PM
You are quite right. A man of my know how will never fall for that ploy. But from where were they hived and put in BNB’s portfolio? A partial truth is worse than a lie.
@Bernard
Are you suggesting that the sugar loans which were carved from BNB’s balancesheet did not make the deal attractive to RBL? Are most of those loans still outstanding? Further, was the BNB not operated under the public service act and therefore was contrained by said rules which made it uncompetitive with the private banks? We want to be enlighted here Bernard.
@Bernard
The article sides with your view?
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/letters_to_editor/110119/barrow-warning-coming-pass
Without prejudice to the real story behind the sale of BNB,I recall OSA submitting that the sale of BNB was to raise money to pay for the new Hilton Hotel.BNB was profitable but not commercially well managed however better managed when Louis Greenidge was brought on board.Small might be beautiful but small island politics of interference in state run commercial entities is notoriously prevalent in these island nations.What the heck does an elected government know about banking.They just frustrate well meaning managers.
The repeated downgrades of our economy even if the PM disagrees with that, is now a cited factor in the financial risks of the banking sector.Sagicor left and re-established its business in a more stable country.CIBC is serving notice Barbados where its operations are headquartered is not immune to further high risk factors associated with more downgrades.Disregard the hurricane risk.That has been a factor in our region for centuries.I suppose climate change and duncy politicians now running the ship of state present some real challenges going forward.Governments might collapse in a few years owing to lack of confidence by the private sector
@ David at 1:19 PM
The annual reports and Financial Statements of BNB from its inception can answer all your above queries. BNB competed with the private commercial banks even with the perceived handicaps you mentioned above.
Speaking of lack of confidence. Gordon Seale is right.
It appears all these miseducated ministers know to do is give away everything belonging to the people, especially their futures, generations of it.
MoneyB….first time I am seeing Seale , remember the blog about when he tried to purchase the Blue Horizon hotel for 11 million…and the stupid house negros in parliament gave it away to the 2 scamps Maloney and Bjerkham for 5 million dollars instead, the rats….am sure 96% of the people forgot about that scam against them already.
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2017/12/13/hotel-blues/
“Hotelier warns more Sandals-like tax breaks could lead to mass closures
Seale warns more Sandals-like tax breaks could lead to mass closures
Added by Marlon Madden on December 13, 2017.
Saved under Business, Local News
2
The controversial Hyatt Centric Resort planned for Bay Street, The City, and the Wyndham Grand Resort on the site of Sam Lord’s Castle in St Philip may be given tax concessions similar to that received by Sandals, one local hotelier has suggested.
However, owner of Sugar Bay Barbados Resort Gordon Seale is warning that if this happens, local hotels will not be able to compete and could be forced to shut down.
“We will not be able to compete, if, as rumour has it, Hyatt is given the same things that Sandals was given and Wyndham would get those and the new Beaches [Resort] gets it as well. You will effectively knock out a lot of the local successful hoteliers. The chances of us being able to survive … are very, very slim,” Seale warned today during a panel discussion at Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on the topic, The Importance of Local Direct Investment in the Tourism Industry. The discussion formed part of the fourth quarterly meeting of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association.”
So lemmuh get this straight, yuh sell yuh house to buy a car, now yuh selling de car to buy…..? Hope wunnah got good underwear patchy pants days aint too far off.
“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”
@Sargeant
The money is being dumped in a deep hole, one getting deeper because of rampant consumption habit by Barbadians.
@ Sargeant at 1: 45 PM
You sure got it right. As I said before, any new administration coming into office is going to need the best brains in this country.
Are we going o discuss strengthening the credit unions and how they can contribute to economic growth, or lose our way in discussing the politics of incompetent economic management?
Whatever happened to the report by Sir Courtney Blackman?
@ David
You are correct. All Caribbean economies
are in trouble. All the talk about going
to IMF is nonsense! The IMF just told
Jamaica to Punlic servant salaries.
@ Hal
You are correct. There has been serious
discussion about the economy for years.
All we get is pure party posturing .
Should read IMF just told Jamaica to
cut public servants salaries.
Whether true or false, insider claims RBC is gearing up to exit. BNB was sold, now the possibility of FCBC/CIBC exiting.
Pray tell me, those accounts in the name of SPIRTUAL WHITE BOY to the tune of 213 trillion, which has been deposited in BNB, FRIST CAR. and CDB, ……WHAT PROVISIONS WERE MADE for these accounts when the entity BNB was SOLD or in the case of FCB TAKING FLIGHT.
In the case of BNB was the deposit declared and accounted for and still exist?
Is the account of the SPIRITUAL WHITE BOY recorded at now Republic Bank?
Will we hear in the near future of some plan for CDB?
Disclosure of practices and collusions are eminent.
To whom it may concern,
Your plots, schemes and devices hatched behind closed doors were witnessed by the unseen guests, now you will be required for accountability.
as always
KARMA is attached.
In the case of Credit Unions, they must always seek to diverse their operational structures from those of the commercial banking sector, maintain individuality, legally challenge Central Bank or Political pressures when it is clear that any stipulation is NOT in the interest of members, its operations or expansion.
Be regulated by a body made up from the Credit Union collective geared at protecting the interests of the collective membership, providing fairness, products and services in easy reach of ALL its members.
Critical is the removal of full interest being required on reducing balances as per loans and mortgages.
Resisting any false and misleading advertising of products and services.
Halting any practice of issuing one party contracts written in verb adverb.
Start issuing FACTUAL contracts written in PARSE SYNTAX GRAMMER in large print.
Resist the issuance of legal documents with photo-copied stamps.
THESE SIMPLE ADJUSTMENTS WILL PROMOTE THE CREDIT UNIONS INTEGRITY from what lies ahead.
Credit Unions are not regulated by the Central Bank.
@WS
“IMF just told Jamaica to cut public servants salaries”
my interpretation of the comments was “the public sector needs reduction”, and the plan outlined was one of ‘early retirement’.
I don’t think there is any question Barbadians can operate local financial institutions, to be competitive with foreign entities. The Caribbean as a region, versus Latin and South America, has ‘fallen off the radar’ of the 3 Canadian banks who operate here. This is as much of an opportunity, as it is a problem.
@9o9
is this realtruth or keltruth.
Is it not feasible for the Credit Unions – who by all accounts are looking for ways to invest money – to combine their resources and establish a local bank? there are many experienced competent bankers available in Barbados qualified to profitably manage such a bank. I suspect that such an undertaking would be well supported by Bajans.
I recently spent 5 hours in different 3 visits to FCIB to add a signature to an already existing account, Scotia and RBC are really no better.
@Tudor
Having the management expertise is only one requirement, what about the capital required to setup the bank? Who will put up what is required? How much is required and will credit union members agree to take on the risk?
Word on the ground is that the credit union league is working with Capita to convert to a bank. This is unconfirmed.
@ Northern Observer
You may want to define “keltruth” as it a new addition to the vocabulary.
For insight, these links will entertain your curiosity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCN5FZVgUW4 … M1, the interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N4DYVr3LdA … M1 World Address
http://swissindo.news/un-swissindo-debt-burden-liberation-at-a-glance/ …
http://swissindo.news/official-swissindo-world-trust-international-orbit-documents/ … payment 1-11 http://www.americanswissindo.com/heirship-economy.html
http://swissindo.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/301449733-WORLD-DEBT-BURDEN-LIBERATION-CERTIFICATE-4-3-2016-ENGLISH.pdf ..the Debt Burden Liberation Certification.
A MUST READ…
http://inteldinarchronicles.blogspot.com/2016/04/global-debt-facility-gold-backed.html?spref=fb&m=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE2npDOSWd4…releases that were “stolen”.
………………………………………………………..
UBS, Switzerland certified gold bullion CACHES. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBS then to issue CVACS (LATER MORPHED into the Ukadia system) to relevant countries.
The cabal infiltrated the Organic United Nations via the Ferderal Reserve.
……………………………………………………………
http://www.wakeupkiwi.com/downloadpapers/20151222_Neil_Keenan_History_and_Events_Timeline.pdf ….MALAYSIA THEFT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw7RS3eMjNU …NEIL KEENAN LAWSUIT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7w2-T2XDbA …. SOVEREIGNTY
………………………………………………………………………….
AN INSIDER STORY OF SWISSINDO some info declared is incorrect and some has been upgraded since the interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEHx-XVkaSM .. part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7omHeoXLF8M .. part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE2npDOSWd4 .. part 3 ..Germany’s Merkel and Martin Blessing (https://www.ubs.com/global/en/about_ubs/corporate-governance/group-executive-board/cv-martin-blessing.html) collusion, Egypt’s reveloution and the Bank of Japans’ defaulted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiyqHQd6Uaw .. part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnUms9TkDaU .. part 5
@ David
The sad truth is that the credit unions will do no better at running a bank than did our politicians.
The ONLY reason that credit unions work in Barbados is the OVER RIDING co-operative PRINCIPLES that require the brass bowls to operate in a VERY SPECIFIC manner, and the operating STANDARDS (think ISO) that benchmark their annual financial and other PERFORMANCE against INTERNATIONAL best practice, and drive corrective actions.
Banks are private corporations that are run by Boards based on much looser Central Bank guidelines. But our central Bank is currently performing money laundering services for a known leper …. so what could THEY tell another institution about standards?
The VERY best thing about local credit unions is that they have stuck to the co-op services.
The Insurance company works, but if you dug deep below the surface you would probably find various questionable scams similar to the games that our politicians play – when it comes to hiring, car rentals, overseas travel etc.
As Bushie said from the very beginning when Arthur FOOLISHLY sold the BNB, perhaps we should just go into the business of creating new local banks to be sold to albino-centric foreigners…
..Create a Bank of Barbados …… sell dat
…then create a Bridgetown Bank of Commerce ….. sell dat too
….then a Stinkliar Bank of Fine Ants….. and GIVE that away to someone who we dislike….
etc…
@Bush Tea
Attempted to make a similar point to Bernard yesterday. The government, people it is or should be the same – a government always working in the interest of the people.
@ David
Morphing into a bank wouldn’t it bring the fundamental structure of the Credit Union under the regulations and control of the Central Bank? It is duplication in the making.
As the regulation presently stands credit unions are regulated by the Financial Services Commission and banks the Central Bank of Barbados. If what is being discussed here is to have a commercial bank owned by credit unions then the above regulatory / oversight applies.
Creating a commercial bank owned by credit unions vs converting credit unions into banks is a different ballgame, still makes little sense unless being a bank carries certain benefits not presently granted to credit unions, why a bank? …. for benefits?…. when those said benefits can also be had by simple policy adjustments and legal instruments.
If the focus/objective is profitability, then the operations of the credit unions for benefit of its members maybe putting that initial policy at risk due to the changed mindset of it administration towards gains and enrichment.
We are aware of the many stealth schemes practice by banks. not so?
@ nineofnine December 15, 2017 at 9:31 AM
The major challenge facing the black owned and controlled credit union setting up its own local bank is one of arranging and managing a Correspondent Banking relationship with an overseas internationally recognized brand.
Don’t think the local credit unions can provide the guarantees to ensure the implementation of the necessary checks and balances and internal controls required to meet those international banking standards unless you might want to use some Nigeria-based outfit to be in bed with.
@ nine of nine at 9:31 AM
I agree with you 100 %. Credit Unions and Commercial banks have different social and economic functions.
The BNB was an attempt to keep the costs of borrowing for the small man and the agricultural sectors low. Yes it made lending competitive but at high risks of its long term survival.
As you know agriculture in all countries require government subsidies direct and indirect. This is done in the interest of food security.
@ David
After the general elections the interests of the people and the elected diverge. We elect oligarchs in some instances dictators.
@Bernard
Agree with you, this is our system?
@ Miller at 10 :52 AM
Money is being transferred internationally as you write. The system of correspondent banks is becoming an anachronism. The difficulties that you described are the same in the more developed countries as well. The know your customer rule is applied world wide. The latter came at a cost which the customer has to pay.
@ Bernard Codrington December 15, 2017 at 11:17 AM
The money being transferred in NOT Bajan Mickey mouse dollars but in hard currency; mainly US dollars.
Now where would credit unions have ready access to foreign money?
Payments to Overseas suppliers represent the bulk of foreign exchange transactions.
How many business people in Bim would want to deal with a black owned, managed and controlled financial institution?
Not even the government would be prepared to shift its business to such a credit union bank as operated under the BNB and probably still do under the Republic Bank
nineofnine December 15, 2017 at 9:31 AM #
That is not necessarily the case. Individual credit union balance sheet banks can operate in Barbados successfully. A joint credit union banks can also operate successfully, only on a higher level.
Credit Unions are not regulated by the Central Bank.
Another flaw in the regularly system.
regulatory
@ Hal
….A joint credit union banks can also operate successfully, only on a higher level….
Care to share your thoughts of ..”a higher level”?
Some recent feedback from members claim to be experiencing some negative challenges as per loans and mortgages, certainly I hope this is not a sign of difficulty in its service and policies.
I do believe that not always a decline of a genuine is due to economic ability but by ones hue and association determined by the interviewer.
How much of the labour force can successfully navigate assistance when scrupulous business owners/ managers pay workers way below par, who really is the profit machinery of these businesses? Commercial Banks snob these low paid workers demanding much security. There’s a need for a creative policy in this regard to help these folk manage their lives meaningfully.
@ Barnard
Food security?…. where?… Bim? just how is local agriculture really creating this security when just about everything is being imported, they hardly penetrate the hotel market, where is the vast exporting when nuff fields idle with river tamarine..and the BAS pompaset production
nineofnine December 15, 2017 at 1:25 PM #
Bigger business. A single balance sheet bank will obviously have limited capability, but will meet most household and small business needs. A joint bank would be able to take part in more bancassurance activities, including cross selling.
Whether big or small, lending will be based on affordability.
nineofnine December 15, 2017 at 1:25 PM #
“Food security?…. where?… Bim? just how is local agriculture really creating this security when just about everything is being imported, they hardly penetrate the hotel market, where is the vast exporting when nuff fields idle with river tamarind..and the BAS pompaset production.”
@ nineofnine
Interesting you mentioned the BAS………
James Paul has been an abysmal failure in his position as CEO of the BAS. I have never heard him articulate any meaningful suggestions for the advancement agricultural sector.
Paul is a member of this inept DLP administration and should have worked with the MoA, Dr. David Estwick to establish a comprehensive agricultural development plan for the next 5 years……. reviewing the process every year, to accommodate/incorporate operational & technological changes that may occur from time to time.
Unfortunately, while Dr. Estwick seems to have INVOKED his “right to remain silent” on agriculture………
…………. we recently discovered the individual who is most often heard discussing issues about the sector………. is a PRAEDIAL LARCENIST.
I had the pleasure to work closely with the late HARDCOURT LEWIS who in my opinion was a visionary for the advancement of the credit union progression, I truly believe that had he been with us today his impetus would have made a huge difference in challenging this present day concept, moving to keep the credit union entity a singularity emphasizing the enhancement of the lives of the ordinary working class knowing full well that commercial banks pretend otherwise.
when lines are backed up to the entrance door and there is one/two tellers… is shite.
when you try to reach the bank by telephone and no one answer ever………… is shite.
when one has to pay to withdraw your own funds from your account …………..is shite.
when you have to “promise” that you will maintain a balance of $1000. on the account to have an account ………………………………………………………………………………………………….is shite.
when you have an account but is not regularly active, it disappears to the Central Bank then to be inconvenience to retrieve it ………………………………………………………………….is shite.
Even when you have a dormant checking account, the fees charge puts it in the red, your are accused of overdrawing that account ……………………………………………………………is shite.
charging a fee at the counter when making a deposit to your account ……………is shite…..
and
those credit card facilities…. is high class shite and extortion, which by the way is infiltrating big businesses doing the same shite.. when you max out the shite begins.
Maybe its time that these parasites take flight and let the credit unions provide our economic services… praying that government fully support its movement. move all bank accounts to credit unions may be the only way to grab the bull by the horn.
and this one is classic, the monthly loan payment is required long before payday, evidently incurring a late payment fee is….utter shite.
nineofnine December 15, 2017 at 4:20 PM #
The foreign-owned banks get away with it because of the gross incompetence of our regulators and supervisors. Al the regulators have to do is tell them to stop it. But they are deferential, scared, of the Trinidadians and Canadians.
@ 9 of 3 at 4:20 PM
I too share your admiration for the late Sir Harcourt Lewis. He was a very gifted public servant. He was an excellent project manager. He project managed the first Hilton Hotel construction. He project managed the Barbados National Bank and The Insurance Corporation of Barbados. He was subsequently the first President of BNB and first chairman of ICBL.
Of course he did other innovative work in the public service too numerous to mention.
Where has that model of public servant disappeared to?
The above should read ” 9 of 9″.
I appreciate the correction Bernard.
I would like to add BESLEY MAYCOCK of the same tenacity and like mindedness. All is not lost, the millennials are the correctors in due course.
Hal,
You must know that most of these “servants” are controlled fearing exposure of unethical practices either subtly coerced or embedded in the psyche. This is a known technique that is now being displayed in the political arena by those bent on exercising control.
When that shit hits the fan here many will fall. Looking forward to political mudslinging campaigns.
@ Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service December 14, 2017 at 11:08 AM #
If these clowns for ministers really gave away the Hilton, they are the most stupid, backward fools to ever sit in parliament and should be severely punished by the electorate…for the secret sale.
London and Regional Properties is a privately held Baker Street, London real estate company that oversees luxurious properties in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. Broadspan Capital operates out of Miami, Florida, in the United States.
……………………………………………………………..
Oh ho…………….kinda makes sense now.
I saw this little weasel Stuart Layne sitting next to Bjerkham on a flight from Miami two weeks ago.
My antenna went up immediately and I wondered what deal these two were up to……..I just said to myself………it was highly improbable that it would be a coincidence for these two to be sitting next to each other in first class…….and that the two tickets were most likely purchased together.
Now that the truth has been exposed about the deal……I saw the little weasel dodging questions from the BHTA saying that it is above his competence……….what the hell.
But it is not above his comptence to sell out Barbados in secret! Deceitful brutes!
Has the deal gone through or not? I saw the clown from St Lucy claiming that the BLP is blocking the sale.
Did not the moron we have as a PM claim in 2013 that there will be no privitisation under his watch.
Is he asleep and so does not know that the Stinkliar is selling out Barbados bit by bit like a drug addict for a quick fix…………..the problem is that quick fits dont work for druggies and it aint going to work for this economy………..it has been wrecked by the idiot of a minister.
I don’t understand why the people of Barbados seem to always assume that only the government can start or run a business. If banking is a reasonable business in Barbados, why don’t private individuals set up a bank and raise capital by selling shares to the public, and listing the shares on the Stock Exchange?
To restate the point, talk is cheap. How much capital is a single credit union or even multiple ones able to put up to be able to compete with the international or even the indigenous banks as far as funding large transactions.
Just asking for a friend.
The people really gotta get up and stop relying on the usual minority suspects and government to control businesses on the island, if they, the private sector or government put up barriers in your way to stop you from expanding medium and large businesses to benefit the island going forward….as they are well known to have done for the past 50 years….expose them all to the world, these small time monopolies and greedy ass petty stagnation of a whole population gotta stop…gotta end.
As for the licorish, easily bought permanent secretaries and other public servants who would sell their own asses and everyone else’s for pennies…they should all be retired, they are stupid Black people.
To restate the point, talk is cheap. How much capital is a single credit union or even multiple ones able to put up to be able to compete with the international or even the indigenous banks as far as funding large transactions.
The Bajan disease is that everybody is an expert, and quite vocal with it. Credit union banks will simply provide a service to local people, they do not have to compete with international banks.
Sometimes if you do not know what you are talking about just keep quiet.
.
It is too early in the morning to respond to you in kind so here is what we will do. Turn the other cheek and wish you a great pleasant day.
nineofnine December 15, 2017 at 4:33 PM #
The repayment date due is the date the loan was taken out.
The local credit unions are useless since they provide local Mickey Mouse dollars. Only the international banks can deliver hard cash.
To restate…
The ONLY thing that differentiates the Credit Union from all the other brass bowlery in Barbados is the FACT that they are CONSTRAINED to follow very specific cooperative PRINCIPLES which relate to transparency, openness, one person one vote (no matter HOW much money you have) and to VERY detailed and specific performance BENCHMARKS.
These CONSTRAINTS account for the ‘success’ of the credit unions….
They are NOT allowed to do ….shiite.
ANYTIME that they venture away from these principles, they will operate EXACTLY like the other brass bowl clowns in Barbados do.
Perhaps we should be looking at IMPOSING Co-operative principles ON TO national business affairs, HOWEVER, when Bushie proposed EXACTLY this approach a few years ago with the BU 10-point plan – using a now popular big-mouth, big balls, asset to provide the transparency in the form of a Chairman of a National Supervisory Committee … .wunna laugh at Bushie….
Bushie knows people who matter……
@Bush Tea
Not even trying to make the point at that level.
You now that the credit union movement is currently 80% Barbados Public Workers and Credit Union.
We also know that COB has no appetite to be part of a bank owned by credit unions, this is a matter of public record.
We know that the plan is for the Barbados Public Workers to convert Capita to a bank, a company 100% owned by Barbados Public Workers credit union.
The simple point is what kind of capital will Public Workers be able to get approved by members to be the game changer some in the forum want it to be. How will they manage the capital adequacy ratios and others to be a game changer.
Because some ask questions JAs must bray because they see inquiry as objection.
COB very likely has no appetite because a certain loud-mouthed member (who writes a regular column on your blog) has railed against the idea for decades now. It was the same ill-informed position that they took against the establishment of the insurance company too.
A Credit Union Bank is an absolute NO-BRAINER.
Even Hal could probably see the obvious benefits,… and the total lack of any CREDIBLE demerits in such a move.
BUT any attempt to take a divisive, partisan approach will be counter-productive.
Capita was ALWAYS a foolish mistake – where politicians were allowed to exert their CLICO-tarnished will on the brass bowl leaders. Trying to dump it as a bank now only makes a bad situation worse.
The Credit Unions should ALL get together and either buy a small bank, or better yet, start their own from scratch, BUT with fundamental CO-OP-BASED constitutional guidelines which constrain the new organisation to follow specific operational guidelines that are modelled as closely as the law allows, to coop principles.
Without access to their own bank facilities, credit unions will always be followers and beggars, operating at the mercy of the banks.
WHOEVER CONTROLS YOUR MONEY CONTROLS YOU…..in this albino-centric world.
One would think that after the insurance experience it would have been obvious to all that the way forward was for the movement to invest in banking, food retail, family based agriculture, medical services and other MEMBER NEEDS areas.
Instead, we see the jokers continuing with this antiquated idea of accumulating shiite money in the bank as an end in itself…
money which is now fetching interests rates of 0.01% (not that this means much to the fine ants minister – but shiite man!!! others MUST be able to see the problem here…)
@Bush Tea
Thanks for your comment. You have reinforced the point BU is trying to make. The cooperative movement by definition is about protecting the wellbeing of a collective, the fact the second largest credit union has concerns is cause for concern.
@ David
…the fact the second largest credit union has concerns is cause for concern.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What actually concerns Bushie is the basis upon which you conclude that “the second largest credit union has concerns”.
What you probably mean is that a few loud mouths with axes in need of grinding, have loudly expressed reservations …or outright objections to the creation of a Credit Union Bank.
Watch this….
What exactly is a Credit Union bank?
Is there a DEFINITIVE answer to this basic question? Has ANYONE written a simple paper to outline what this really means in the Bajan context?
Perhaps your regular columnist could do some research and start a conversation on this…
Can you imagine that they paid a former central banker as a consultant (to produce what?) when significant expertise exist in the co-operative world of multiple such SUCCESSFUL operations? …and where free advice and guidance could be sourced?
Most of the ‘objections’ to the concept are illogical, ill-informed, petty nonsense ..that comes from a low level of national self-esteem, and from the brainwashed idea that ‘certain things are too-big for us to manage’.
Four-hundred years of systematic breeding of brass bowlery is no easy task to overcome yuh hear…? PLT is so right about the long term impact of the ‘Barbados Slave Code’…..
When properly explained and articulated, even hopeless Bajan Brass Bowls of the order of Hal and Vincent (bless his soul) will support the idea…. It is THAT intuitive…..
@Bush Tea
If the COB credit union is being run as a cooperative movement why are a few loud mouths able to hijack the proceedings to use your word?
@LJB
the concept of using the stock exchange to raise funds has never caught on in Bim.
@ David
If the COB credit union is being run as a cooperative movement why are a few loud mouths able to hijack the proceedings to use your word?
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Where is it ever otherwise?
Interesting read. Great background on what is going on with Canadian Banks in the Caribbean.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/perils-of-the-caribbean/article23199267/
Bush Tea,
If you convert Barbados into a cooperative, better make sure that it does not end like the “Co-operative Republic of Guyana” and the legendary Guyana Jones there. The Barbadian elite has the fatal tendency to abuse social, economic and legal structures like the inherited colonial system for their personal benefit. However, profit-sharing is a fine principle if you install some watchdog to bite the local elite.
Hard to have a viable stock market in a place as small as Bim with few publicly traded companies and an anemic exchange as well as a mostly disinterested public, anyone who thinks otherwise living on “cloud nine”. It is a “meeting turn” and savings account public, same as it always was.
@ Tron
If you convert Barbados into a cooperative, better make sure that it does not end like the “Co-operative Republic of Guyana” ……… However, profit-sharing is a fine principle if you install some watchdog to bite the local elite.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Correct.
Thus the value of Caswell (watchdog /oversight /transparency …and with tuff balls)
and Jeff C, (a genuine gentleman, scholar and patriot.)
(except when Bushie manages to piss him off 🙂 )
Do you not yet see that without such assets, even a cooperative approach is useless…
We are that badly positioned.
@ Sargeant
There you go again with your petty NCO limitations…
The ONLY reason why a local stock market does not work is that there are such THIEVES about, as we have seen in almost every major public fund that we have had EXCEPT …the credit Unions.
Who will put their pennies in some shiite fund ? -when we cal all see the damn RH prime minister and the central bank protecting the biggest leper and thief in recent local history?
Who will put their savings in an investment fund – that is run the way that BNB was run before being handed to Trickidadians? ..or the way the NIS is managed?
Bajans are no ‘disinterested’, they are just not 100% F##&%$! IDIOTS …..to just hand their saving over to persons who are above the law
Put justice, transparency and a strong integrity focus in place and Bajans would be some of the VERY BEST investors anywhere….
F##&%$! – ‘foolish”
@Bush Tea
Many reasons are responsible for a lack of interest by the public in listed companies. There is a degree of illiteracy concerning financial matters, lack of transparency at AGMs, the market is manipulated,,,
Here we have a negative mindset by some , who believe that if it is local its is inferior.The credit union and its fore runner the meeting turns and civic societies , have been the major saviours of many, who were in some cases, unattractive to the big international banks. Anybody who has participated in a large meeting, can attest to their success, when properly maintained. I was once advised by a lecturer in economics, that it was better to invest in two pigs than trying to put money in a savings account. The returns , he explained were far more attractive than anything the bank was offering. He was correct. We save millions in banks and then they bluntly refuse to assist with small businesses and so on. Today, we are paying these multi national rapists, all types of “service” fees and they are actually controlling our money like loan sharks. It is time for the credit unions to step into the modern financial world and have their own banks. They must also offer other financial services and invest more in the local economy.
I heard or read about a black Barbadian, who had started a bank donkey years ago. Old timers still marvel at what he tried to do back then . Imagine with all our education, and high flying lifestyles, we could not expand a national bank but an ordinary citizen, in a harsher time tried to establish a bank.
I think they refer to it as the “Simmons” bank. Very interesting.
@William Skinner
You need to suppress the self talk. Why is it the second largest credit union and others in the movement have voted against the credit union owned bank? Is COB owned by the BU household? Do you know what the consultant’s report contained? Do have an idea how the regulator views the idea based on the state of Capita’s balance sheet? You like to attack others for asking relevant questions?
There goes Bushie proud resident of cloud nine, now what is the working population in Bim? What percentage has disposable income? List the number of companies that have employee purchase plans that encourage employees to invest in company stock through deductions from their earnings? COW was boasting that his companies award employees shares based on their length of service, can these employees liquidate these share into cash on a quick turnaround?
Barbados is not unique in having citizens who are disinterested in the Stock market, it is just that it has a small population while other countries with a vibrant stock market have millions of people and thousands of companies and this is an arena where size matters.
” the market is manipulated”…..if true, the manipulators would have been buying and selling stocks like C&W and BHL and ‘pumping and dumping’ them? Maybe minimal arbitrage in cross listed stocks.
@ David
“Tron December 16, 2017 at 7:03 AM #
The local credit unions are useless since they provide local Mickey Mouse dollars. Only the international banks can deliver hard cash.”
How do you interpret comment above ?
@BushTea, your retort re the BSE is absurdly not conforming to reality…viz: “The ONLY reason why a local stock market does not work is that there are such THIEVES about, as we have seen in almost every major public fund that we have had EXCEPT …the credit Unions.”
That is simply your normal Bush-Speak or Dr. Goebbels fancy talk; sound good as shiitteee (just like a Bitcoin @ $17K) but merely a bubble to be burst.
Above @2:28 @Sargeant I said it well but please do this for me if you would.
In NON-Goeebbelesque speak advise a REAL world practical concept on how we can continuously ‘churn’ the sale/purchase of no more than the approximate 35 companies now listed on BSE.
How do the Bajan investment industry (insurance, pension funds, other companies, folks with discretionary funds, expats etc) pump-up the volume of the BSE on an on going basis to alleviate the anemia mentioned????
And let’s dismiss that the BSE is ANY MORE crooked than markets the world over.
@David Mr Blogmaster, and neither is it any more manipulated (comparatively).
When there can be a LIBOR scandal that clearly showed how those fellas played the game DESPITE all the regulatory agencies in US, England, Europe and Asia it’s rather ‘amusing’ to discuss manipulation of a market the size of Bim’s.
What type of manipulation are you alleging? How does it adversely impact the trade activity? Who makes money from the manipulation to the market users disadvantage?
Our BSE market is not unlike in BASIC terms why the Cheapside of Fairchild St markets were founded: to provide a central meeting places that sellers and buyers of products (company shares for BSE of course) could execute business more efficiently in a central spot and have those transactions regulated.
Those produce markets could never aspire to be a big farmers’ mart like in UK or US and I see no rational reason why we should ever expect our BSE market to be anything other than the small practical meeting place for share buyers and sellers as it is.
Anyone who wants to do exotic financial dealing whether its bonds (not an Exchange items really), the new fangled ‘Initial Coin Offers’ and other stuff will do so under auspices specific to that.
And our populace is as literate financially as they WANT to be. We do Bajans a disservice by presuming that they are less au fait than the average American, Brit or Frenchy for that matter on fundamental matters of finance.
@Dee Word
Read the financial pages, scan the media, what do you conclude?
Sargeant
The size of our market is a hindrance to our development.That along with our traditional insularity makes us vulnerable to the bigger players.We are takers and always will be given our size and that stupid word and experience called “independence”, a farce if ever there was one.
@ Sargeant and Dribbles
Look, Bushie don’t normally argue about finance with poor people… for obvious reasons. But the size of the market is IRRELEVANT since the ‘size’ of the demand side is matched with the size of the ‘supply’ side. Wunna just hear people using shiite terms and think that it sound impressive.
In the final analysis, only the liquidity potential of the market is important, and if you look at the SAVINGS accumulated by Bajans, then the stock market does NOT suffer from any size constraints.
Put it this way. Perhaps only $2B can be squeezed out of the investment market, but the economy is so SMALL that $2B is more than adequate investment resources.
Black Bajans do NOT invest in Barbados because the situation is such that people of the ilk of Allan Fields, Baloney, McConney, Bizzy etc are the ones that ALWAYS end up in control of the funds.
They always end up rich, ….while the investors end up holding shiite, and foreigners owning the asset.
..Banks
..BL&P
..BS&T
..Cable &Wireless / Bartel
..BNB
..CLICO
…the list is ENDLESS
If the damn government had control of the credit unions, as we speak, COB would likely be the “Port of Spain Credit Union” and PWCCUL would be the “T&T Oilfield Workers Barbados Branch”.
Who the hell but Hal would invest in such a climate?
…except for Hal in his Bajan time-share scheme….?
LOL
ha ha ha
Take a look at the ‘Stock Exchanges’ daily report on CBC TV.Its a huge joke that Barbados got the nerve to report activity.What activity?Place too damn small and forsaken by proper leadership.
Just read Gabriel post and it was exactly what I was thinking.
Our mindset is what is killing us.
We talk as if we are big players on the world stage when in reality we are just a small island with a minute economy. There is only so much that you can thief and mismanage in such a small economy before things start to fall apart. This is exactly what we are now experiencing.
Stinkliar failure may simply be a result of him lacking the engine to move the economy where he wants it to be. The poor fool feel he is driving Porsche when in fact he is riding a stationary bike
This is not doom and gloom, but cold hard facts.
I had difficulty explaining to a young lady that although tourism was our number 1 industry, we were minor players in the tourist game. Our 0.5M annual visitors was a drop in the bucket compared to those on the move and who call themselves tourists.
We have no sense of proportions, we do not know our limitations. We compare ourselves to the US but we are Lilliputians who look at Gulliver and think that we see our own reflection.
Sadly, changing from a B to D administration is not the solution. To quote a well known phrase, we are simply rearranging chairs on the deck of the titanic. A population of 260K divided into two warring factions, a prescription for failure.
B&D politics will be our death. We have to find away to engage the whole island and not just 50%.
Barbadians who are financially literate prefer to be day traders playing the US markets.
Goddards used to cater Air Canada from the Crane hotel for many years.As opportunities arose to cater chartered aircraft coming into Barbados from the US and in particular the U.K. Goddards saw and seized the moment that gave rise to the Barbados Flight Kitchen.Other scheduled carriers joined Air Canada and the many chartered operators to have BFK provision their passengers.The BFK did well but there was only so much they were able to achieve.Seawell was the only airport, Goddards now had expertise and what ever else it took to look regional and then international.A success story.
Bushie, it is so difficult for you to speak in real terms!!
Forget what I or Sargeant or anyone else sounds like or dat I poor as shiiteee or that we “hear people using shiite terms and think that it sound impressive”. Good Gosh my bro…cut the BS Goebbels fancy talk and be REAL.
You said “Perhaps only $2B can be squeezed out of the investment market, but the economy is so SMALL that $2B is more than adequate investment resources”… Why yah PERHAPSING.
As @Gabrel says above the daily trading volume is small. The total market value per the BSE is around $7 Bil I believe.
Thus can you PLEASE (still) tell the blog how that is not small? Can you please explain how churning BS&T or EMERA or Goddards et al to only the so many interested participants can ever make us NOT anemic????
The simple point @Sargeant made – and the others above @Gabriel and @Gazers – remains clear: we are a Cheapside market talking shiiittee as if we are the NY Stock Exchange or some such…
You dismissed the man and that idea only to come back @ 7:11 PM to affirm that we small as a gnat.
Look, enjoy your Gobble-gobble. It’s always awesome to see you use the Queens’ English so deftly to talk through both sides of your mouth so sweetly…no one does it better bro.
And incidentally Black Bajans would be foolish to use your dictum re the white folks “ALWAYS end up in control of the funds…”
The white boys got the funds now and had it before ANYHOW.
If we invested in BS&T shares back in 90s or if we did NOT that would certainly not have stopped Fields one iota…he wud still drive bout that Beemer M5 he had and Doug Lynch would still have had big houses and cuss we asses in his racist way.
If we Black folks had NOT invested the only jackasses to lose out wud be WE…certainly not Fields et al.
In this zero Interest rate environment and badly devalued BDS $$ do tell oh wise one any of 10 investments (yah got lotta latitude to find a few) besides BL&P and C&W that returned a better value than a BS&T share bought over 20 years ago…
NO BS…Just REAL talk!
Your argument sounds absolutely absurd to me….but sweet as shiiittteee for your albino-centric Sat night corn and bread-fruit roasting session!
Incidentally, I like my corn medium done …not too Black – that must be the albino side of me taking hold – soon come!
@ David
Dribbles has no clue of reality in Barbados….
He run up in Canada – where brass bowlery has been patented, and trying to psychoanalyse us back here …where the national psyche has been conditioned by 400 years of the Barbados Slave code.
@ Dribbler
Look boss, investment can be successful, active, dynamic and positive EVEN within an extended family. If someone could establish a bond scheme where 300 people of various means could invest in a single family fund, that is then invested in transparent, productive, well managed, and high quality niche areas, then a VERY dynamic investment climate can be created.
There are Indians all over the damn place that demonstrate this constantly.
IT IS NOT A MATTER OF SIZE….
In any damn case, what is an” impressively sized” market to you in Canada p- looks like shit against a current Chinese investment fund….. so what is the difference if a Barbados fund pales into insignificance compared to yours?
The POINT is that the market NEEDS will also be COMPARABLY sized to the funds that can be generated. The KEY DIFFERENCE in Barbados is the closed-door, secret, dishonest, under-handed REALITY of such operations.
If fund managers in the US could CASUALLY rob clients like a certain leper did in Barbados – and walk ’bout free as a bird….do you think people would continue to invest in such funds?
If Boards could CASUALLY sell assets for WAY below value to foreigners – resulting in HUGE dividend losses to shareholders, and then be found to have become millionaires via the deal .. do you think that US citizens would continue to invest?
Steupsss…
@ Hal
“The Bajan disease is that everybody is an expert, and quite vocal with it. Credit union banks will simply provide a service to local people, they do not have to compete with international banks.
Sometimes if you do not know what you are talking about just keep quiet.”
You are correct. What we have here is a negative mind set that is clothed in so-called facts that cannot stand up to serious scrutiny. Hence the object is to ridicule rather than discuss. There is no reason why credit unions cannot set up banks. Its really a natural progression and the negativity of one or two members should not be allowed to determine its growth.
The argument that banks set up by credit unions cannot “compete” with multi nationals is nothing more than a red herring because the credit unions already have a solid consumer base that will welcome the offer of other services including banking. The growth of the credit unions knocks that silly argument about competing way over the boundary for six !!
It is money deposited in the credit unions not peas and corn.
You guys just don’t get it. Nobody is opposed to credit unions owning banks in Barbados. We have gone to the next step to identity concerns/questions. The total credit union movement in Barbados in asset size compares to the smallest bank in Barbados. Secondly we have already discussed that the movement is split on the idea and some of us have asked why. Does it make sense to add the concerns repeated above? Get a grip, we are pass the concept of diverse ownership and onto the next stage of how do we operationalize.
#steupe
William Skinner December 17, 2017 at 1:31 PM #
Here is the UK, after the 2008 crisis, we have had a number of what we call challenger banks – small banks that compete for customers with the big high street banks that were (and are) closing branches and forcing people on to internet banking.
They are doing very well. Some local authorities (Essex, Cambridge, eetc) even wanted to re-introduce mortgage banks.
@William, all it takes in Barbados is an amendment to existing legislation. Nothing more. The political class has a failure of imagination and their stubbornness won’t allow them to take proper advice.
A few years ago Invest Barbados organised a London seminar on financial services in Barbados and I introduced them to the director of our most successful challenger bank – a man who loves Barbados and stays at Sandy Lane every year. It was pushing against an open door, trying to get them to open a branch in Barbados. The chairman even visited Barbados on a recce. The whole thing was messed up.
@Hah
….all it takes in Barbados is an amendment to existing legislation. Nothing more.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What legislation needs to be amended?
@ Hal
We are challenged by our lack of vision. We want change but we wish things to remain the same. In many countries there are small banks serving communities. In our minds the only banks that exist are Nova Scotia, Barclays and Canadian Imperial. Many of the ” experts” on BU will be shocked to learn that small businesses drive the U.S. economy.
We seem to be permanently shackled by our minds and like to spout forth a whole heap of recycled garbage about the IMF and so on , not realizing the time has come to be “craftsmen of our own fate”.
A parallel story in today’s Nation:-
Many of the ” experts” on BU will be shocked to learn that small businesses drive the U.S. economy.
Not just the US, but the global economy That is the damage that Owen Arthur as inflicted on the Barbados economy by selling BNB. By the way, has the small business unit ever set up or funded any small businesses? If so, how many since it was created?
@ Hal
“By the way, has the small business unit ever set up or funded any small businesses? If so, how many since it was created?”
I think there was some movement but in terms of actual activity , I really don’t know.
BTW, Arthur argued and convinced his followers, that it was in our interest (more profitable) to sell the bank. You notice that Arthur is now talking about creating cities. I recall about two or three years ago, you mentioned , right here on BU,creating a large economic zone in the area of Weymouth, Roebuck Street etc.
What Arthur and the apologists are refusing to say is that the corporate big boys already build their city in Warrens and will build more. They watched, Bridgetown and Speightstown deteriorate. They will keep pushing toward the north and create a new economic zone, while we argue about the IMF and play “experts”. Sooner or later we will have a country within a country and the game will go on and on……….
It was Errol Barrow, who warned that one of these mornings we will wake up and find we have no country. He knew exactly what he was saying but……….
@William,
Poverty of ideas, like of material possessions, leads to people pilfering other people’s. I have often on this blog raised the issue of the waste of Weymouth, including the Transport Board site, one of the most valuable real estate sites on the island.
It is a site that can be used to develop residential, leisure and commercial businesses, from apartments, shops, offices, a medical and dental centre, to a swimming pool and gym. And, with the use of the playing field (instead of the current wasteful use by the police), can turn that part of the city in to a top class location.
In the meantime, the Transport Board could be moved to St John, the poorest parish in the country, bringing with it new jobs and businesses.
I have also on a number of occasions suggested the development of at least two new towns – Six Roads (or Four Roads) and Boscobel, with government moving some public offices to such developments and incentivising the private sector to move to those new towns.. Such a move would also temper the chaotic rush-hour traffic heading in to town.
On another occasion I have suggested the development of a Seawell New Town, with a three-star hotel, new shops, restaurants, bars, clubs, making the area around the airport a central entertainment destination.
Poverty of thought is as much a crisis as the mentally lazy hysterical obsession with an economic orthodoxy, which leads the unthinking to talk nonsense about how developing Weymouth could lead to structural thinking, or talk about linear thinking, a concept they do not fully understand. Or some political party talking vaguely about a creative economy. I think first they should develop creative minds.
It is also the outcome of a lack of dealing with ideas, preferring the cheap noise of party political abuse and cynicism. It is also the outcome of people not demanding more from their media, public intellectuals and politicians.
@William, the government is using Bds$240m to put the Sam Lord’s Castle development back in use, it is also about to use a similar sum to put the so-called national stadium back in proper use.
@William, that $500m could be used to do a hell of a lot more for the nation. In economic theory it is called choice theory, the rational use of limited resources.
I have said before, Barbados is a failed state. Look around you for any number of examples of this: from Arthur’s sabotaging of the economy by selling off our state-owned financial institutions, to the abuse of the NIS fund, to our educational collapse, to the decay of public morals.
What else do you expect from a society that cannot even remove excrement from the streets?
@BU
You continue to state COB has issues with the concept pf a Co-operative bank and we are divided , what are those concerns that you know about. The biggest concern COB has is the issue of credit unions cannibalizing the services which they provide but the commercial banks are already doing that with the same deposits from COB and and targeting their members . Christmas and back to school loans .
The commercial banks are saying to credit union members bring your deposits from the credit union to access loans .
The credit union movement is the natural progression to a Local bank , they jointly have the capital in fact the largest one has the capacity to go alone if necessary. The skills to run the institution is in barbados .
The largest credit union started very small , people had no confidence in themselves and like we as a people don’t trust each other ,it is now a billion dollar institution after 46 years .
The agreement is we will provide banking services through an independent entity at minimal cost to credit union members and Barbadians generally . There is no fundamental divide in the movement on the issue of the Bank it is the approach and the progression to that state of readiness to the Co-Op bank . Take some comfort from the model the credit union insurance company ( Co- operators General Insurance ) ., History will show that company started with the some credit union not being on board from the inception , now its fully owned by all members in the credit union movement . STAY TUNED
@creditunionist
Glad to hear there is movement, BU will stay âtunedâ.
CREDITUNIONIST December 18, 2017 at 10:36 AM #
The only legitimate argument against a credit union bank is that it will be managed by black Barbadians, which among the political class is the ultimate risk.
@ CREDITUNIONIST
Thanks for debunking the propaganda that there is widespread resistance to the credit unions having banks. It is amazing that some people who constantly attack the political class for propagating falsehoods, would engage in the same activity, and then proceed to denigrate those who call them out.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines has a Co-operative Bank located at the Corner of South River Road & Bay Street, Kingstown, which has been servicing Vincentians from around (circa) 1945.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines has a Co-operative Bank
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
They may not have enjoyed the same blessing that Barbados has over the years, but they are not brass bowls.
St. Vincent’s Co-operative Bank does not offer all the services as commercial banks…….however, similarly to the credit unions, interest on loans is calculated on the reducing balance.
@ CREDITUNIONIST
Too many of us arrive at conclusions based on misinformation. I know of one credit union that was built by those who were philosophically in tune with the basic concepts. Many evenings they hopped into one car and drove the length and breath of the island selling the concept and building membership. Today, that credit union has millions of dollars and its own corporate building. Those who are active participants in change think differently.
@Artax
It may not be widely known but many small banks and credit unions are being supported by âbailout supportâ in the OECS.