NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Central Bank is in discussions with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) over its decision to discontinue the issuance of $20 bills at its ATMs.
Yesterday, Central Bank Governor John Rolle said: “That is something we are looking at in conversations with the bank. I know that sometimes ATMs for unplanned reasons do not have certain denominations but in this particular case we are looking precisely at the underpinning for that particular decision.”
As reported by Eyewitness News, the bank’s decision sparked major backlash on social media last week as many customers expressed their outrage and disapproval over the move.
The bank stated in a notice that after reviewing its clients’ banking habits at its ATMs, it found “there was not a demand for $20 bills and made the change”.
The bank recommended that for smaller purchases, its customers use their RBC debit cards at the point of sale devices at retailers, restaurants, and other services across the country. The bank began implementing the move back in July. Many customers took to social media, expressing disbelief and disapproval over the move, citing that it was “not customer friendly” particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
LaSonya Missick, RBC (Bahamas) managing director and head of personal banking stated that the move was a part of the bank’s efforts to steer its customers towards digital banking, amid the belief that clients are increasingly turning to electronic and digital channels to conduct regular financial services transactions.
The Central Bank needs to investigate all these fees that these banks charge and the amounts.
What If I only have $40 in the bank and I want to purchase something from a street vendor. I cant use a card for that transaction now can I??
It’s a shame that RBC decided to take away the 20dollar bills from it’s ATM, a lot of RBC clients use the tellers to get 20 dollar bills to make small purchases & some cases use it as a budgetary exercise per day to budget themselves day by day ,those who on monthly especially, they need to reinstate the 20 dollars bill back in the tellers, they reason RBC gives , is not the honest truth & they needs to be investigated , the fees they take from you is outrageous, sometimes I see more monies missing from my account as I do transactions, but it’s truly ridiculous, if I didn’t have monies coming to RBC, I would of left them a long time ago but no authorities in this Bahamas are saying nothing about this establishment enfriging on Bahamian rights to a fair banking establishment in our Bahamaland, they needs to be investigated .
The reason they gave for their action cant be true! If Central Bank report claims that the majority of Bahamians have LESS than $1000 on their account, how then is it that we only deducted $50s and $100s?
This is not surprising to me at all. The fact that they close branches citing budget cuts only to open branches in more affluent areas, disallow anyone to make withdrawals less than $1,000 in branch shows where their focus is. This makes no sense at all.
Citing “digital banking” is also a cheap cop out as well. I hope people know that banks want you to use your debit card for transactions. They take out fees every time you do and if you’re not one that checks your balance online, you wouldn’t know. That item that costs $20 actually costs you about $22 after fees.
This is pure foolishness.. Most Bahamians can only afford to withdraw twenty dollars at any given time because they don’t have more than $300.00 on their account.
Ron Fernander:
LaSonya Missick, I truly hope that you personally see/read my comment because I’ll tell you the truth about all of this Garbage. You are making one of the worst decisions in your life Sir.Milo Butler did everything in his Power in history to get his face on that $20.00 bill and you have the the flippin nerve to take that from the Bahamian people over some electrical app that is stupid very stupid. You will never ever know what Sir.Milo Butler bin through on a personal level in his life just to achieve that type of goal. Miss.Missick you should be extremely ashamed of yourself because you & your team are trying so hard to erase that Man’s Legacy. Don’t take everything he worked so hard for away from him because you would be doing the wrong thing, the fact of the matter is that no one you worked with had any common sense to tell you the truth! And as far as the penny (0.01) law goes you have to remove that because that is also stupid for so many reasons, & you people wonder why the Treasury is broke it’s all because of the penny band law & V.A.T The Bahamas was doing fine without stupid Taxes. You have to keep in mind that not everyone in the world likes electronic banking apps or even have the knowledge to use it correctly with out the bank robbing them. Nobody like to be fooled, robbed or Swindled by their bank or any bank in the world for that matter. (Oh & Owner of R.B.C who ever you are personal message for you, Quit stealing all of the Bahamians who have to go to work 5-6 days a week 8 hours a day money they work extremely hard for that & check yall ATMS 3-4 days every week and please to all you bank Tellers move faster inside the banks.) I seriously hope that you read this, apply the truth to your lives & make smart decisions in the future! (Forcing Electric banking on people, erasing someone else’s Legacy that they made happen and not you, Stealing, Swindling, Robbing & Lying to Hardworking people who bust their ass for their hard earned money 8 hours 5-6 day every 2 weeks then don’t have access to it right away, a stupid penny bannded law & ridicules Taxes that a country doesn’t need). Do Better in Life and Seek God for yourself.