The Editor, Sir:

The commercial banks operating in Jamaica need to seriously consider overhauling the level of efficiency and speed with which they go about their business.

I have travelled to a few countries around the world and had to do some banking. I have never seen the lines as long and slow as those that exist in the banks in Jamaica. To go to the bank will necessitate you taking the day off from work to accomplish banking.

The senior citizens' lines are especially slow and you sometimes wonder if the tellers who serve those lines are themselves the senior citizens.

Excessive fees

The banks compound the problem by charging excessive fees for just about everything. The automated banking machines are supposed to allow people to do their banking at a much faster pace and to lessen the number of tellers that the banks have to employ, thereby lowering the banks' operational costs. Instead of encouraging the use, the banks institute exorbitant charges after three transactions using machines from your own bank - this is contrary to what exists in other parts of the world.

I think that the banks should immediately, and as a New Year plan, eliminate all the excessive fees for simple bank transactions, and measure the average time that each customer spends in a branch. If they refuse to police themselves, then it is incumbent upon us in civil society to pressure the Government to pass legislation to reorganise their operations.

I am, etc.,

SHAWN JOHNSON

jamaicanshawn@yahoo.com

Via Go-Jamaica