Banks are supposed to be trustworthy

Aug 11, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
I just read about the chap who had his bag of money snatched from his car. Having $G1.5M, just withdrawn from a bank, being stolen is devastating, particularly when it is suspected – or even a certainty – that a tip-off by bank staff facilitated this. That said, certain precautions taken beforehand could prevent such thefts.
It is a bit disappointing to learn that some bank staff in Guyana are still at it. In the 1990s, when I had to close my account with a bank, whose HQ was transatlantic, I was offered the proceeds in cash. The sum involved was at least £4,000 (Four thousand pounds sterling) and, since I intended to place the money with another bank, I opted for a cashier’s cheque instead. Which ‘ordinary’ person would wish to cope with such a large bundle of notes?
Looking back, I remember the cashier conferring with colleagues in a side room, their glances, the use of mobile phones in the room, and I now realise what the game plan might have been. I knew the bank was incompetent and sloppy – my passbook was a mess, slovenly written.
They entered different amounts in the passbook and on their computer for the same transaction and chose to accept whichever sum was to their advantage. They charged me commission twice on the same transaction and that was my “enough is enough” moment. However, I never suspected or expected deliberate dishonesty.
Not to worry – bank staff at my respected London bank, one with branches worldwide, performed their own parlour tricks with my money during my stay in Guyana.
Within a week of my departure, they helped themselves (electronically, no doubt) to £3,500 (Three thousand, five hundred pounds sterling) from my account. Fortunately, for me, I decided to confirm certain financial arrangements with the bank by letter immediately upon arrival, so my account had to be looked at, and the unauthorized withdrawal was discovered.
The bank attributed this to “human frailty”. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, ‘Some human, some frailty’.
Had I not got in touch with the bank so soon after arrival, who knows how many ‘human frailties’ would have occurred – someone was probably speculating with my hard-earned money and making a tidy profit for him/herself.
Banks are supposed to be trustworthy, the integrity of their staff beyond question. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
Geralda Dennison

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