Discriminatory Banking in TCI to end, Premier in talks with UK to take Regulator Responsibility

#TurksandCaicos, November 3, 2021 – Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Hon. Charles Misick says he is in talks with the United Kingdom (UK) Government to widen services throughout communities.

“We have already started discussion about how we get banking to all our communities in TCI, in one form or another, and how do we use our relationship with the UK to leverage the ability to make sure that sectors of the economy are not de-risked or de-banked,” the Premier said.

The Premier told a recent press conference that commercial banks on the islands are lazy, and “cherry pick,” clients, avoid risks, while also presenting challenges for several sectors of the economy.

He added that part of the challenge with banks on the islands, has to do with local managers not able to make decisions to suit their environment, and have to rely on seniors in Toronto, Canada.

“So, they can’t really help us. That’s the truth. They can’t help us. It’s an enterprise decision, so they can’t make the decision locally as to what happens here. So we have to work with the private sector and the banks to see how that can happen and what we can do,” he said.

Declaring that banks on the islands don’t want to take any risks, the Premier said they de-risked whole sectors of the economy “just not to deal with the risks, but by the same token they have cherry-picked operations and operators that generate enough money so that risk is covered,” he pointed out.

The Premier stressed that the attitude of banks on the island is known in economics as “market failure,” and with only three banks operating for the people, the end results, a whole group of people get discriminated against, and the Government is looked up on to “steps in and either punishes or rewards or provides an incentive for that service to be delivered.”

“We have a spotless regime in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the UK is responsible for the sector, so I see no reason why they can’t leverage their tremendous wealth and power in this sector to stand in the gap for us and to make sure that businesses who are documented properly are not de-risked,” he said, adding the UK has moved to help some of the same sectors, in other countries, so it can be done for citizens of the Turks and Caicos Islands.