By Erica James-King, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE MALDON Branch of the St. James People's Cooperative Bank has been plagued in the past by poor loan repayment practices, said Paul Miller, Manager of the Integrated People's Cooperative Bank's Network (IPCBN) Unit of the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ).
He is warning clients of the bank to repay their loans on time.
Derrick Kellier, Member of Parliament for South St. James has also chided members of the Maldon community and its environs, for the high delinquency-repayment rates that have dogged the bank in the past.
"The repayment of loans here at this bank was at best-atrocious", Mr. Kellier said during the official opening of the refurbished Maldon PC bank on Thursday.
As part of the islandwide thrust to reorganise and improve the People's Cooperative (PC) banks, $1.2 Million has been ploughed into the upgrading of infrastructure and services at the Maldon Branch.
"The reason why it (the bank) had taken a slide down, was because the capital investment that was here was loaned out and those persons for one reason or another were not able to repay those loans."
Mr. Kellier is reiterating the urgent need for members of the community to honour their debts to the bank and to also "use loans for the purpose of which they are intended".
ANOTHER SOUR NOTE
Another sour note for the Maldon bank was that it has been the brunt of repeated acts of burglary. The DBJ reports that the most recent incidents of burglary occurred in February and March this year. "But this has got to stop. Protect your bank. The community must ensure that the refurbished bank is not allowed to be over-run by burglars," urged Paul Miller, Manager of the IPCBN Unit of DBJ.
The refurbished Maldon PC bank now boasts an expanded range of services including facilities for payment of utility bills and savings and loan opportunities for both farmers and 'non-farmers'. It was originally a savings and loans bank for farmers.
GROWTH IN SAVINGS AND SHARES
The Maldon Branch, which is one of the oldest PC banks in the island, is currently recording a growth in savings and shares. But, the ACB feels that the 2,563 members at that bank could be doing substantially better in their transactions with the institution.
"The paid up share capital could be more. Since you have a share capital of $135,640 and the bank has been around for 76 years, it means that your share capital is growing at an average of only $2,000 a year...It needs to grow much more than that, " challenged Fenton Gregory, manager of the Agricultural Credit Board.
Mr. Fenton was however upbeat about the bank's savings portfolio, which now stands at $14 million. Meanwhile, its agricultural portfolio has in stock some $3.81 million.
Senator Norman Grant, President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society(JAS)who also shared in the official opening ceremony of the renovated bank, notes that the PC bank network across the island has been strengthened. He says the islandwide savings portfolio has jumped from $4 million in 1994 to a whopping $560 million during this year.
