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Indigenous banks fail to Know Your Customer — KYC

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Indigenous banks have time only for their expatriate customers whom they don’t know but lend them our grandparents meager savings (accumulated); they loan politically positioned persons, before they would even consider their ordinary customer’s desperate COVID needs.

The banks don’t want your land and buildings as collateral, they want cash or guarantees of cash in order to lend, and poor ordinary people are now cashless.

People of worth in our country are no longer local land owners, they are the newcomers who are the social and monetary friends of the Government and therefore approved for borrowing large sums which carry all sorts of interest, and the ability to grease the palms of senior agents throughout the corrupt system of government and banking.

They accept proposals which they would not dare advance to any of the foreign banks, not,because they are so straight themselves, but operating overseas guarantees limited corruption on the general level which could create waves in the financial marketplace.

That multi-million dollar building funded by what was RBTT located on the left of the highway before the Roundabout beyond Parham is an example of the looseness of money coming from banks for projects of chosen people. When banks are dying or just packing it in is the cruelest period for those who need them most, because the money goes in the opposite direction and ends up like that brand new now crumbling building that was completed but never functioned.

When Bank of Nova Scotia surreptitiously started packing their bags full of Caribbean worth, planning to leave unannounced to their businesses customers, it took two full years of restrictions on collateral, restrictions on loans for expansion before we the customers were told that they were leaving. Clearly money has no friends in need and is no friend indeed.

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Antigua Commercial Bank (ACB) was our own penny bank established by our conscious first local banking entrepreneurs with the objective to satisfy the savings and loan needs of ordinary Antiguans and Barbudans.

In those days, those persons who knew about saving money outside the Ovaltine tin or under the mattress, saved at the Treasury then located at the bottom of High Street under the Library (now the SJDC parking lot.) ACB educated the ordinary man about Savings, Loans, and Money Matters. Today the ownership of ACB is so wide that ordinary Antiguans and Barbudans no longer come first.

Know Your Customer (KYC), became the buzzword of the Off-Shore banking system which occasioned the deregulation of money movements globally, and where small islands like Antigua managed to get into the global big league of differently coloured money which fattened the banks both foreign and indigenous during the eighties and beyond. Confidence through KYC gave business a boost as the intelligence used for KYC was really for monetary background information which offered guarantees.

Indigenous banks today need to stop mis-interpreting KYC. For them it means, minding people’s personal business, marital or nonmarital affairs, their politics, their family and health issues.

Further, interference of local politics makes it almost impossible for locals to operate in a healthy atmosphere with the banks unless they have a lot of money, lots of political influence, and follow the herd! Herd immunity of locals to stand down?

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REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL SELECTION)

 

OECS MSME Guarantee Facility Project

Loan No.: IDA-62670, IDA-62660, IDA-62640, IBRD-88830, IDA-62650

Assignment Title: Senior Operating Officer (SOO)

Reference No. KN-ECPCGC-207852-CS-INDV

 

The Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have received financing in the amount of US$10 million equivalent from the World Bank towards the cost of establishing a partial credit guarantee scheme, and they intend to apply part of the proceeds to payments for goods, and consulting services to be procured under this project. 

The consultant will serve as the “Senior Operating Officer (SOO)” for the ECPCGC and should possess extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to Micro, small and medium-sized businesses, knowledge of the internal control processes necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk mitigation procedures. The ideal candidate should possess an Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Accounting, Banking or related field, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in lending, inclusive of MSME lending. The initial employment period will be for two years on a contractual basis. Renewal of the contract will be subject to a performance evaluation at the end of the contractual period. The assignment is expected to begin on September 30th, 2021.  The consultant will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the ECPCGC.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be viewed by following the attached link below. 

 

https://bit.ly/3iVannm

 

The Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECPCGC) now invites eligible “Consultants” to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have:

  • An Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Finance, Banking or related field; and
  • Minimum of 5 years’ experience in MSME lending. Applicants should also have:
  • The ability to design and implement risk management procedures 
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to small and medium-sized businesses
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME banking operations
  • Knowledge of the internal controls necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk management procedures
  • Experience developing and presenting information in public, including responding to questions in real-time
  • Experience lending to MSMEs located in the ECCU
  • Knowledge of marketing and communicating with the MSME sector
  • Ability to draft procedures to be used in a lending operation
  • Familiarity with the mechanics of a loan guarantee program
  • Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills, and
  • Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite.

The attention of interested Individual Consultants is drawn to Section III, Paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers July 2016, [revised November 2017] (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Approved Selection Method for Individual Consultants set out in the clause 7.34 of the World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers. 

 

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 0800 to 1700 hours:

Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation

Brid Rock, Basseterre,

St. Kitts.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form by e-mail by August 11th, 2021, to [email protected]

 

For further information, please contact:

Carmen Gomez-Trigg                                                            Bernard Thomas

Chief Executive Officer                                                          Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 868-620-8144                                                                  Tel: 869-765-2385

Email: [email protected]                                          [email protected]