** Exclusively on SXM Talks, articles by Ralph Cantave **
PHILIPSBURG – Several clients of Republic Bank St. Maarten have expressed their frustration and dissatisfaction, following the bank’s system conversion on April 4, 2022. The conversion finally took place after the bank’s acquisition of Scotiabank in 2018. However the roll out of the conversion has not been a smooth process. On Saturday May 28, a flood of social media posts displayed difficulties by clients who were alerted that accounts were overdraft by thousands of dollars or obtained a surplus of thousands. Prior to the system glitch, persons were unable to access their accounts, make payments, view their balances and receive monies owed to them. This has also affected persons off-island who were delayed in making payments during their journey. To date, the bank has not provided a public statement detailing the transition difficulties to clients nor potential clients. This has led to months of backlog for some clients and increased dissatisfaction that are yet to be addressed in many individual cases.
According to Republic Bank St. Maarten’s managing director, Sterl Lyons, the complications faced yesterday were a matter of internal IT processes and not a hack. The setback persisted for hours until being resolved in the early afternoon. One client disclosed issues in their account from Friday May 27. The bank issued a public apology which mentioned, “be assured that the Bank is working fervently towards resolution today and full restoration of your account balances.” The bank also apologized for the inconvenience caused.
A Glimpse of Consumer Fray
Within a week, dozens of comments and private messages detailed the setbacks persons are facing at the bank. In many instances, clients were refused or had to turn down products and services due to their cards not being accepted or working. Some have expressed the inability to view account balances at the ATM machines or access pension funds and salaries. In the case of entrepreneurs, persons have been hampered from viewing funds received which has led to accounting delays for some businesses. Besides clients who were unable to log into their account, those who did were in shock by the figures debited like in one person’s case, the client was over $100,000 was in the red. The commonality among many persons was the glitch’s effect on checking accounts.
While yesterday’s transaction and balance error affected a large scale of clients, many of the system conversion woes still persist. One main concern among clients is the wait time for matters to be resolved due to ongoing correspondences between staff on St. Maarten and the staff at Republic’s headquarters in Trinidad and Tobago. Persons have also had to wait hours to get a representative over the phone. Another client has been awaiting a refund from a cancellation since mid April. After multiple checks with the local branch he was told the issue has to be dealt with in Trinidad however representatives in Trinidad told him it has to be settled on St. Maarten.
In the case of a next client whose account was flagged for unauthorized activity, the investigation has surpassed a month and the money is yet to be refunded. In a similar situation, one client waited over two weeks on two occasions and received assistance until threatening to express her disdain in the media. Another client expressed having an account changed without approval and there’s no possibility to reverse it. This included being under-informed by bank representatives of loan conditions which led to increased fees. Other experiences will be detailed in a subsequent article.
The Bank’s Response
Lyons reiterated that the glitch was a matter of an internal tech problem due to files that were affected during the IT conversation of the bank’s system. According to a source the files related to funds on hold were corrupted which led to persons realizing that their account has been credited. Nevertheless, Lyons stated that the funds on hold which reappear on person’s accounts will be removed. Noteworthy, is that a review of money on hold can only be seen via a statement at the bank. The only data available on digital banking is deposits, withdrawals and fees. It is expected that the bank will realize a heavy flow of clients on Monday, May 30.
Regarding the conversion complications Lyons added that issues should be resolved within the first week of June. Internal processes and behind the scenes IT updates are ongoing as well as collaborations to ensure Republic cards can be used at other local bank terminals. Lyons stated that the bank will be conducting a media blitz to inform clients and partners of what has taken place and provide updates of the bank’s services.
Little Communication, Comfort or Counsel for Consumers
Following yesterday’s public outcry, the bank posted that a system restoration was in progress via its Facebook page and thanked the clients for their patients. No authoritative entity such as business groups, advisory bodies or the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten, has made a statement regarding the woes faced by the public. Questions were sent to the local director of the CBCS, Raquel Lo Fo Wong as well as the Minister of Finance, Ardwell Irion. Lo Fo Wong will provide responses in a few days. No response was provided as yet by Irion. However the Minister made comments about the situation during the Council of Ministers press briefing on May 18, 2022.
The Minister stated, “Yes I’ve seen a couple of comments in particular to a few banks recently, in regards to a transition and I have brought this situation to the Central Bank but this also a lot more on the private banking situation… I don’t know how much they can do in regards to the transition and how that went but I’ll get an update on that.”
During that briefing Irion was also asked about the consumer banking protection law which was a proposal by United People Party Member of Parliament Rolando Brison. In January 2022 a motion was passed to have the CBCS vet or create consumer protection laws with the intention to also have a consumer protection bureau. Brison stated that he recently spoke to the CBCS president, Richard Doornbosch, and said the possibility exists that the laws would be published in phases.
Earlier this year, the CBCS met with the St. Maarten Banking Association to discuss customer experience on the island as well as “requirements for opening and closing of bank accounts, consumer rights, and complaints procedure were being discussed” according to the CBCS press release. Given the present consumer reality, details, solutions or presentations of this meeting will be requested.
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