GIVE CUSTOMERS COST-FREE ACCESS TO THEIR MONEY, EXECUTIVE COUNCIL TELLS MCB EXECS ~Teller fees to be imposed from May 2023 bank officials reveal during courtesy call on Executive Council ~

A plan by the Statia branch of Maduro & Curiel’s Bank (MCB) – formally Windward Island Bank (WIB) – to impose teller fees has been delayed until next year. 

During a courtesy call this week on the Executive Council by MCB’s general manager Leonard Domacasse and senior leader Luis Limaon, it was revealed that people going into the bank for services such as depositing or withdrawing money will pay a fee as of 1 May 2023. 

While the delay has been welcomed, the Executive Council members encouraged the bank officials to consider ways to give customers cost-free access to their funds. Among the recommendations were that customers be allowed to withdraw a certain amount of cash each year, as is the practice in the Netherlands, waiving the teller fees when the automatic banking machines are not working, and installing additional machines. 

As of 1 November, the WIB branch in Statia began operating as MCB in what WIB said was part of its strategy to streamline its bank’s operations in Bonaire, Saba, and Statia.  

During the meeting, the Executive Council impressed the bank executives with the need to consider vulnerable groups such as senior citizens as the financial institution presses ahead with digitalisation.  The Statian officials also made a case for mortgages for low- and middle-income earners, bank guarantees for entrepreneurs, mortgage guarantees and expediting the process for opening an account.