Home »

[bernard]

Do we really need so many banks in Haiti?

[georges]

This is a good question. However, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that, nowadays, there is a trend towards consolidation in the haitian banking industry.

[pat]

J'ai appris hier sur haitiwebs que le système financier en république voisine, sera bientôt réduit à un effectif de 6 banques commerciales. Ceci, dans le but d'arriver à une certaine stabilité économique et d'offrir de meilleures possibilités aux PME.

Chez nous, c'est le contraire qui s'est produit les trois dernières années. Devrais-je conclure que la stabilité économique est le dernier des soucis de notre gouvernement et que les propriétaires des petites et moyennes entreprises ont encore longtemps à attendre une baisse de taux favorable à l'investissement?

[lovehaiti]

dear Bernard,

I have the same question you have. Why so many banks springing up like mushrooms in a country where the economy is in steep decline?

You would think that it would be a good thing to have a lot of banks competing against each other but it's not. The banks are not making loans or even investing in the Haitian economy no wonder the cooperatives ( credit unions so to speak) are gaining ground like wild fire.

The strange thing is that almost all the old time banks like Bank of Paris, Banque du Canada, Novia Scotia just to name a few, have either closed their doors, sold their assets or in the process to do so. What's going on?

Patriotic Salutations

Foundation Cards on the Table...PaP, Haiti

[Noudweront]

The old banks functioned more like remittance centers helping the old kleptocracy transfer Haiti' s treasury into foreign lands, no exceptions. The current competitive atmosphere will help the consumers decide better. Shranking the many into a few banks will eventually create a monopoly, that's bad for the banking consumers.

[Cyrano]

Originally posted by Noudweront

The old banks functioned more like remittance centers helping the old kleptocracy transfer Haiti' s treasury into foreign lands, no exceptions. The current competitive atmosphere will help the consumers decide better. Shranking the many into a few banks will eventually create a monopoly, that's bad for the banking consumers.

You are right Noudweront ! this competition has forced the actors (bankers and Spupervisor -BRH) to develop other prducts, to provide a better customer service, to enlarge the woking market, to invest in some social activities (patronage divers).

Did you know that some haitian banks are fighting to provide the latest technology to their customers (e-banking Unibank, phone-banking Socabank, Sogebank keeps building (constructions, etc)

So far the haitian banking system is the only part of the economy that keeps investing trust and money in the future of this country.

[aldolf-heurl]

If one agrees that money is rare in Haiti today.. and at the same time witnesses a proliferation of Commercial Banks... we have to understand that money has different faces.. and maybe teh one we are talking about is not the one that is being managed in our commercial banks in Port-au-Prince.