Debt ease discussions on
Article by February 27, 2021
As the local financial services sector prepares to consider a possible second moratorium on loans and mortgages for customers dislocated by income losses and jobs due to COVID-19 lockdowns, banks and credit unions are today reporting successes during the first grace period.
The Barbados Bankers’ Association (BBA) and the Barbados Cooperative & Credit Union League (BCCUL) said they were able to meet the requirements of their customers during that first repayment ease.
In March last year when Prime Minister Mia Mottley was concluding debate on the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure in Parliament, she announced that commercial banks would be offering a six-month ease on the repayment of loans and mortgages to individuals and businesses whose jobs were in jeopardy as well as businesses affected by the COVID-19 economic downturn.
The proposed establishment of a locally-owned cooperative bank for Barbados may be off the table.
President of the Barbados Cooperative & Credit Union League (BCCUL) Hally Haynes has said that certain developments in the financial services sectors in recent years are pointing the movement towards a digital operation instead of a physical structure.
“The bank is something we will have to revisit given that a lot of things have changed in the last three years,” Haynes told
Barbados TODAY.
“Correspondent banking relationships, that is one of the critical components. If we are going to establish a bank, you have to ensure that you have correspondent banking relations…then you have to look at how the industry is moving. So there are a lot of factors to consider when we revisit the bank…whether we move to a digital bank or we look at brick and mortar,” he stated.