Bank of The Bahamas International will be closing its East Bay branch on Friday.
However, the closure marks the beginning of increased service to its clients, when a new branch opens on Thompson Blvd.
Managing Director of the Bank of The Bahamas, Mr Paul McWeeney said the move to close the East Bay branch came after bank authorities determined that a more proficient way of providing good service could be accomplished in a new location.
The building in which the East Bay office occupies, is shared between the bank and the National Workers Co-operative Credit Union Ltd.
In an interview with The Guardian on Tuesday, Mr McWeeney said the bank was leasing its space in the structure owned by the Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) – an organisation that the credit union is a subsidiary.
According to Mr McWeeney, the credit union also wants to expand its services to the community making the bank’s closure in that location necessary. He said a mutual agreement between the bank and the union was made in that regard.
The East Bay branch was considered ‘relatively small’ because of limited space, and only serviced the cashing of cheques, depositing and withdrawals of accounts. No lending or other associated activity took place.
“We are in business like any other business,” he said. “We have to constantly assess and reassess ways in which we deliver service to our clientele. They tell us what they want and so we are just responding in a fashion that better suits what they are looking for.”
The new branch is expected to be bigger and better, giving full service in the new Government complex on Thompson Blvd.
“This full-service state-of-the-art branch will allow the bank to better deploy its resources to satisfy the demands of our clientele,” he said.
“We thought it would be a strategic reason to service those clients in the East Bay area though an advance automated banking machine and relocated the human resource elements at the new facility which will offer more services.”
At the new location, the bank intends to promote electronic systems that will provide more efficient customer service.
The bank, whose stocks have been steadily moving upward, will continue to deliver its American Express and Money Gram products.
Customers may operate their accounts at the Village Road branch or at any other branch. They can use any of the bank’s ATMs located at Village Road or Shirley Street branches.
Customers will also soon be able to access ATMs at the former East Bay branch and the Harold Road branch.
A look at the growth of the bank over the last 10 years shows that its total assets have risen by 260 per cent, an increase that represents a $366 million net income.
The Government purchased the bank from the Bank of Montreal in 1988 in order to save jobs, when the offshore bank ceased doing local business
When the Government acquired it, it had invested $10 million. Within eight years, the Government earned back $9.6 million in dividends, $11.5 million from the sale of five million shares in the bank and $40 million market value of its present 51 per cent stock ownership of the bank.
By Lisa Albury, The Nassau Guardian
