Incompetence cannot be Republic Bank's excuse

Incompetence cannot be Republic Bank’s excuse

Feb 21, 2020 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

I have decided to raise this matter in the public domain because it is important that stakeholders – customers, government regulators, and the bank’s shareholders and international management, realize that something is amiss at Republic Bank that goes well beneath the surface.
It has been close to three, four months now that Republic Bank has been releasing my salary late. A check with my employer Wednesday informed me that salaries for this month had been paid since February 14, four working days ago. A check yesterday morning (Feb 20) at around 7:00 hours revealed that Republic Bank was still holding my salary. Crosstalk at my employer’s Accounts Department revealed that other employees at Republic Bank were having the same problem, and that some of the bank’s employees were being less than truthful regarding the reason for the delay. No official disclosure seems to have been made by the bank to inform customers about this problem, as would be expected.
Republic Bank is probably Guyana’s largest commercial bank with links to Royal Bank of Canada (TT) and Scotiabank (TT). It competes with international banks on the forefront of the banking industry. In this modern age of artificial intelligence and robots, Republic Bank, after its recent fiasco last year, has once again stooped well below international standards, and even basic professional courtesy, in handling what should be a routine aspect of banking and customer relations, not to mention any regulatory breaches regarding information disclosure. Taken in perspective, it is difficult to consider, with all the resources at its disposal, that incompetence (as was the most probable reason for the last issue) across the bank’s management, from the level of the country director to the bank’s employees dispensing fairytale explanations to customers, is the reason the basic problem of the inordinate delay in the release of customer’s salaries, and Republic Bank’s continued disregard and disrespect for its customers, regulations, and even its own brand in our rapidly evolving economy. We can only wonder how far-reaching the problem is, and what next can we expect from the bank. Because while it is true that mismanagement and lower profits may result from companies which have become too large, I do not for a moment think that this is the case with Republic bank, since for example, it is clear that cutting corners with the number of employees serving customers may well have been a contributory factor for the long waiting times faced by customers in the bank. Where exactly do the bank’s customers stand, and what can we expect?

Regards,
Craig Sylvester

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