From left to right CBCS management members Leila Matroos-Lasten, BobTraa and José Jardim.
WILLEMSTAD–Effective today, Friday, customers may use their debit card from Curaçao’s Girobank again, announced the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten CBCS.
They guarantee all deposits of up to NAf. 10,000. The commercial bank’s operations were frozen on December 10 due to unrest regarding its immediate future.
Girobank was technically unable to process the resulting increase in withdrawals. These were putting pressure on the bank’s liquidity. CBCS says its measure was taken in the interest of the account holders.
Every client now has a maximum amount of NAf. 10,000 at his or her disposal, which for more than 90 per cent is the entire amount. This is said to be in accordance with international deposit guarantee standards.
When CBCS stepped in Girobank’s doors were closed, payment cards had been blocked and the Internet banking system was stopped. The intervention came when account holders started massively demanding their credit.
The latter happened after rumours that tax authorities wanted to transfer 4.5 million euros via their Girobank account to the Social Insurance Bank SVB, but the transaction failed because the bank did not have enough money. Not much later, local oil distributor Curoil announced that it would no longer accept checks from the bank and asked to pay its customers through other banks.
Since 2013 Girobank has been subject to an emergency regulation from CBCS. The bank was in the hands of the former Island Territory until 2002 and since 2010 has been largely owned by IIG Capital, the International Investment Group in New York. Pension fund APC and government retained a minority interest.
According to some sources in the financial sector, Girobank almost collapsing is the result of bad policies at the Central Bank itself. CBCS recently gave an advance of more than NAf. 270 million because Girobank ran into liquidity problems, but it is unclear whether there is cover for this.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/93248-girobank-s-payment-systems-back-today
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