260711BUKA BSP NEEDS CASH
By MLAUKAI

Bougainville’s only bank Bank South Pacific based in Buka is constantly running out of cash because not enough business houses and individuals are depositing money back into the bank, says Bougainville provincial census coordinator JOSEPH JERAHA.

Mr. JERAHA said this is the reason why the Bougainville census office is unable to pay its census officers on time.

He said his office has had to wait for more than a week for big business houses like JOMIK trading to make deposits before they can withdraw amounts up to K150,000 which BSP could not earlier withdraw due to shortage of cash.

Mr. JERAHA is urging the people of Bougainville to use the banks to deposit their cash so that there is enough cash being circulated within the island region.

He said the more people depositing cash into the bank, the more cash will be available for the bank to allow large amounts of withdrawal for clients needing urgent cash.

Comments

[Rausim BSP]

I have withdrawn all my money from BSP and deposited into IBOM and I'm glad to have made the right decision.

[Paulinus Evia]

I will never deposite cash into the BSP anyway...
From what i am hearing,otherwise i lose money instead of making interest

[Stret Pasin]

BSP have revealed in the press that they regularly charter aircraft for cash transfers for K40,000 per trip. PNG and ARB are unfortunately very expensive places to run banks and businesses. Yes competition is needed and good however in order to reduce costs and fees to customers basic business conditions must improve and the economy must grow - cheaper and more reliable transport, communication and power are critical as well as lower crime rates.

The bank has stated that delays were due to the need to verify the transaction. This is very important to protect all customers, public funds and the bank from fraud. Anti money laundering measures are urgently needed an PNG is finally bringing these in. This can be frustrating but needs to be understood.

A public official should not be naming an individual bank customer, this is a highly innapropriate breach of privacy.

[Lanbong]

How can Mr. Jeraha urge the people to deposit cash into the bank, that is the responsibility of the bank manager. The bank is responsible for providing that service to the people. People are not stupid, they are loosing money by putting it in the bank, so naturally, they are keeping it in their homes or wherever it is safe. Perhaps this might force the banks to rethink their charges and reduce them.

[Gerard Bruijl - Business Development Advisor]

This is all very well but who wants to stand in line for 2 hours to deposit money and on top of that to pay high fees. BSP Business customers pay 2% on cheque or cash deposits < K5,000. In other words, if I am depositing K 150,000 I will lose K3,000 in cash handling fees, which comes of my the bottom line. If this happens several times a year, I am losing a lot of money and a nice income for the bank. It is the bank's problem to make sure enough cach is available for their customers, it is just another poor service delivery from the bank. The answer is quite simple, and that is competition. It will solve the flow of money going in and out, fees will be more competitive and overall bank services will improve because will have a choice where to go to.