Up to 5 days for local cheque clearance; Banks have failed VI customers
![1FirstBank is one of the banks operating in the [British] Virgin Islands. Photo: VINO/File](https://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/cache/images/800x_8_800x_8_800x_i_IMG_9839.jpg)
There are five major commercial banks- Banco Popular, First Caribbean International Bank, Republic Bank (BVI), National Bank of the Virgin Islands and 1FirstBank- residents use for financial business transactions, savings and checking accounts and loans; however, customers continue to suffer long delays.
We need a central clearing house
Take for example; it takes up to five days to clear a local cheque. This is because there is no ‘central clearing house’ among the banks, something that is common in almost all other jurisdictions.
If a resident or business person deposits a local cheque, the same cheque has to be manually exchanged between banks on day 1. If the cheque has funds or can be accepted due to other arrangements with the relevant bank, the exchange or having the cheque cleared happens on day 2.
If the cheque bounces then it is returned for insufficient funds on day 3 and sometimes the bank may hold on to the cheque for a while longer. If the transaction falls on a weekend, it can take yet another two days. This means it can take up to a week to clear a cheque in the Virgin Islands (VI).
Many residents, business persons and senior banking officials blame the Financial Service Commission (FSC) for not pushing or coordinating an automatic clearing house.
Over the years, all political parties and governments have not been strong on these matters and have not fully addressed the daily banking struggles of residents and the business community.
Hard to do business in VI due to banking sector
This has resulted in the slowdown of commerce in the Territory, where financial services is the major pillar.
Additionally, because of this challenge, some business persons will ask that cheques be written in their own names, or if it’s in the company’s name they will stand in a bank line and cash the cheque then use the cash to deposit on another account. This avoids the issue of waiting for some 3 to 5 days for a cheque to clear.
As the political campaign comes to a close in about 12 days, this has not been a sustained topic in the political space.
Many are asking if the political class even understands the issues or the inconvenience of residents and the business community both locally and for those overseas who do banking in the VI.
FSC must come forward
What is required to correct this, according to a senior banking official in the field, is for all banks to be electronically connected to a central clearing system, but someone must drive this in order for it to happen, according to the same official.
The FSC is responsible for regulating banks, insolvency, and fiduciary services in the territory.
Residents still complain of the long bank lines, poor internet that slows down remote banking transactions, and the high turnover of junior bank staff. In addition, there is a struggle for banking services on the sister island of Virgin Gorda, and a cash machine for Anegada and Jost van Dyke.
It is unclear why the current political aspirants and the current elected officials have not given this matter the attention it needs, as easy and quick banking is another way to ensure economic stability and rebuilding.
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23 Responses to “Up to 5 days for local cheque clearance; Banks have failed VI customers”
Well I’m banco and their checks only takes a day; if it’s another banks check deposit at Banco two days. I’ve never waited 3+ days!!
minus whale look into a non-custodial method of payments
run chat dat
1. Banks- they can charge whatever fees they want.
Does niot adjust interest rates to be in line with global changes.
2. Insurance Companies- raised property insurabce 100% after the hurricanes.
3. Ferry transport- almost triplef round trip fare from BVI to STT.
No Consumer Protection. Not one of these griffting parasites seeking our votes mention anything noteworthy that will enhance the luves of the people.. SMFH
just a few weeks ago I deposited a banco pop cheque into my cibc account on a monday and it was applied as unavailable funds on the tuesday. on the Thursday it had been debited from my banco pop account.
the following MONDAY it was still not showing as available in my cibc account. I called cibc on the Tueaday and after many hours of trying to reach someone ( yes hours !!) they just kept saying it takes up to 5 business days to process ( they obviously cant count as i.m now on business day 6) even after i explianes that it had been debites from the providing bank just 2 days after depositing, and its now 6 business days later, they just repeated " 5 days" and then hung up the phone on me.
It was eventually applied on the tueaday evening.
shocking service, both in processing and customer service.
Not holding my breath as far as any political party pushing for banking reform.......afyer last election, they wwre promising to get insurance companies to reduce property insurance..( its been increasing each year ever since)...banking issues wwre slated to be addressed, ..we.re still waiting. candidatea may promise reforma in these areas, but we need to ask them just how are thwy going to achieve it.
Don't write @*&^% bounce cheques! Only in certain very rare circumstances it may happen at no fault of the person writing it but a lot of the bounce cheques here are wilful actions! The cheques take 2-3 business days to clear in the BVI if depositing from another bank. If depositing in the same bank the cheque is written on, it's 1-2 days. This is just about nothing! The issue with the bank is the long @%$ lines and outdated systems of dealing with matters in an efficient and quick manner.
It's a daily fight with the banks to get anything in or out of your account.
Other banks we have to deposit checks on seperate slips as their machine does not read the checks so has to be done manually. Were about 20 years behind the rest of the world here. Considering were an offshore banking island no one uses the banks here.
Nothing new here. Same old story.