The National Bank of Belize Limited was established in April 2013, and today its doors were opened to the general public in Belmopan. The state-owned bank will primarily provide concessionary credit to public officers, teachers and lower-middle income Belizeans. Suitable to the occasion, the launch was a red-carpet type affair of government leaders, public officers, dignitaries, diplomats, executives and general supporters of the initiative. There were balloons, a band and plenty of back-patting to greet the birth of the G.O.B.’s new bouncing baby bank. Mike Rudon was in Belmopan and has the story.
Mike Rudon, Reporting
There was plenty of high-level support to greet the opening of the National Bank of Belize today. It’s an initiative which has been in the works for some time now…and while it’s far too early to offer comment on the bank in practice…the government has nothing but praise for the idea behind the NBBL.
Joy Grant, Chair, NBBL
Joy Grant
“Initially, the National Bank of Belize will provide mortgage financing for construction to first time home owners with fifty percent of their regional equity financing for public officers and teachers, and the remainder for the general public. In a few months our range of banking offerings will expand to include other financial products and services.”
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“What is happening here this morning is part of a grand design of a far larger scheme of things. I have long complained that in an international environment of all time low lending rates, the inability of our commercial banks to seriously bring down the cost of money to consumers is a scandal.”
And that scandal resulted in the birth of the National Bank.
Dean Barrow
Dean Barrow
“All I and Cabinet know that it is a situation that we could not any longer countenance. It is unacceptable that the spread between bank deposit rates and bank lending rates keeps widening in favor of the banks. And in this regard, the government refuses a minute more to be the dog that only barks. And so, enter the National Bank.”
And the National Bank is entering the scene in a big way. There will be no refinancing of mortgages from other financial institutions because the bank is focusing on first time home-owners. And loans will be for a maximum of one hundred thousand dollars. But that doesn’t take away from the good news which the Prime Minister was more than happy to offer.
Dean Barrow
“For those that we will be servicing, our lending rates will be unbeatable because our bottom line is people and not profit. That is why our introductory offer to the people of Belize is an unbelievably low five point five percent.”
Amid the euphoria of being the harbinger of good news for Belizeans, there was still room for reality – reality which can spell disaster for the brand new bank.
Dean Barrow
“The people for whom all this is to be done must do their part. When you borrow, you have to repay. And if we run into trouble because of delinquency even at this first stage, we will never reach level two. I have every confidence, though, that especially our teachers and public officers know exactly how high the stakes are, and will partner responsibly and successfully with government to make our national bank the pride of Belize and the envy of the Caribbean.”
Just about the only criticism of the bank so far has been caused by cynicism, bad experiences in the past and a general distrust of politicians. So will the National Bank turn into a political pork barrel…a national grab tub?
Dean Barrow
“The Managing Director, the Board of Directors and the staff all know that that is absolutely a no no and it simply won’t be countenanced. There’s just no chance. It can’t happen and it won’t happen. While it’s not going to be an issue because we simply won’t tolerate it…it’s as well to signal right from the start to people – if we are to make a success of this thing and we are going to make a success of it we really have to as you say treat with it on the basis of the highest professional standards.”
According to the Prime Minister, he expects that the initial demand will outstrip the twenty million dollars which has been used to capitalize the bank. He anticipates a trip to the House to allocate more monies to the bank by Christmas. Mike Rudon for News Five.
The Managing Director of the National Bank of Belize is Jose Marin. Doors opened for business this afternoon.