President of the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber Liaquat Ali wants the business community to stand up against commercial banks, whom he is accusing of unfair treatment towards the business sector, and to "seek alternative arrangements with financial institutions in Trinidad and Tobago."
Speaking at the Chamber's Christmas Dinner on Wednesday, Ali compared the operations of commercial banks to the Olympics.
"They going for gold but the gold is not the gold medal, the gold is who going to make the most money, which commercial bank is going to highlight the most profit and is like a bragging right for these banks now," he said.
Ali told guests at the function, including the manager of RBC's Couva operations, that he had nothing against any business organisation which is profitable, "but we have a problem when we find we being treated unfairly by the commercial banks."
He said non banking financial institutions offered a range of services and he called on them to "sell themselves to the business community because we can no longer sit by and allow the commercial banks to take advantage of the business community, when it is the business community who have the commercial banks there."
Ali said banks take advantage of the business community in a number of ways: "We have now the banks charging you for every deposit you make. For every $1,000 you deposit they taking a charge for that. That is not fair.
"We have credit card charges that the commercial banks are charging you that you unaware of. You have $1,000 on your card you pay $900 but they charging you interest on the $1000. We have to look at these things and we have to send a message to the banks."
Ali said officials of the Couva, Chaguanas and Siparia chambers had met with banking representatives "and outlined all the problems", including absence of washroom facilities at bank branches.
He was critical of what he described as an "unfair distribution of foreign exchange" where businessmen take loans in US dollars, withdraw the money from an overdraft facility and leave it as security, "so you paying additional charges on your overdraft."
"You paying interest on your US dollar loan and you have to pay them back in US dollars, and if for some reason you take it for one year and the Trinidad dollar slides against the US dollar, you losing, so what that telling us?" he asked.
Ali said while he had previously been opposed to floating the TT currency he believes that the time is right to "allow it to float and that is when we will know where we stand internationally against our compet.
BANKERS RESPOND
The Bankers Association of T&T (BATT) said it had already reached out to the Chaguanas Chamber following comments made by president Richie Sookhai and is willing to meet with the Couva Pt Lisas Chamber to discuss the concerns raised.
"It is our hope that these meetings will allow the chambers and BATT to discuss any concerns noted and to clarify any information required."
BATT said the banking sector is one of the most regulated industries in the country and is required by the Central Bank to publish a full and comprehensive list of services provided and related charges.
"Charges vary based on service type, channel and product," the association said, adding that "comparisons made in the public domain need to ensure that the correct data is utilised for public discord."
BATT said cheaper options for banking transactions, such as such as digital and non-branch options, online and ATMs "are more convenient, safe and time effective."
On the issue of lending and deposit products BATT said: "The data will show that the overall margin between loans and deposit rates are at some of the lowest points experienced in a number of years."
BATT said the outlook for lending and deposit rates will "ultimately be influenced by overall economic and market conditions both locally and internationally, linked to prevailing fiscal and monetary policy."