Carolyn Cooper | NCB's unconscionable fees

When I opened my US credit card statement last month, I couldn’t believe it. All I could say was, NCB too wicked. I had forgotten to pay a bill for $3.17. Because it’s a recurring charge, I hadn’t paid attention to the fact that I’d actually made a recent purchase. The late payment fee was $59.23, almost 1,900 per cent of the original bill! On top of that, there was GCT in the amount of $8.89, more than 280 per cent of $3.17. Like an aggressive cancer, the debt of $3.17 had grown rapidly to $71.29. By over 2,200 per cent! How in God’s name could that possibly be reasonable?

At first, I decided to just pay the extortionate bill and pray God fi di owner an di management of NCB. Di whole a dem! Of course, ‘praying God fi’ and ‘praying for’ are not at all the same supplication. In the case of the former, one is asking God to punish a perceived evildoer. By contrast, the latter is a blessing, asking for God’s continued guidance and protection of a deserving soul.

It didn’t take too long to catch up miself. I was not going to willingly pay the exorbitant late fee, even though I was delinquent. I emailed the bank manager about the matter and informed him that I felt like closing my NCB accounts. I didn’t understand how it could be good customer relations to treat any client like that, much more a loyal one. I’ve been banking at the same place on the Mona campus of The University of the West Indies for over half a century. From the days of Barclays bank!

NOT A PRETTY HISTORY

What is now the National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited has a long history that is not very pretty. In 1837, the Colonial Bank of London was established on Harbour Street in Kingston. By 1925, there were 11 branches across the island. That same year, the Colonial Bank, the National Bank of South Africa and the Anglo-Egyptian Bank were all acquired by Barclays, which was rebranded as Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas), later shortened to DCO.

A 2020 UK Guardian report, “Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds among UK banks that had links to slavery,” confirms Barclays’ sordid history. Even the Barclays Bank website admits the connection between the bank and slavery in Jamaica but attempts to pretty it up by highlighting the story of David Barclay who became a partner in the bank in 1776. He is described in this way: “A keen supporter of the emancipation campaigner Wiilliam [sic] Willberforce, he used his influence to persuade other Quakers to take a stronger stand for the abolition of slavery.”

As it turns out, “David Barclay found himself the owner of a slave plantation in Jamaica in settlement of a debt. His decision to free the slaves and transport them to Philadelphia cost him £3,000.” The purchasing power today of £3,000 in the 18th century is £820,279.44. Historian Verene Shepherd tells the Barclays’ story in a Gleaner article, “Freedom in the era of slavery: The case of the Barclay brothers in Jamaica,” published in 2008.

David Barclay was certainly not typical. Others in the bank were far less squeamish about slavery. The Guardian article reported that, “University College London’s Legacies of British Slave Ownership project shows that 10 per cent to 20 per cent of Britain’s wealthy can be identified as having had significant links to slavery. The amount of money borrowed to pay off slave owners was so large that the government only repaid it fully in 2015.” Barclays Bank was, unquestionably, implicated: “Two managers, a subscriber and three directors are named on the UCL database as having been involved in the slave trade or received slave compensation.”

The more recent history of Barclays Bank is no less ugly. According to Wikipedia, “In 1941, during the German occupation of France, a branch of Barclays in Paris, headed by Marcel Cheradame, worked directly with the invading force. Senior officials at the bank volunteered the names of Jewish employees, as well as ceding an estimated one hundred Jewish bank accounts to the German occupiers.”

FROM BARCLAYS TO NCB

In 1975, Barclays Bank of Jamaica was established. The Government of Jamaica became the owner of all the bank’s shares in 1977. Barclays was renamed the National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB). By 2002, Michael Lee Chin’s Portland Holdings acquired 75 per cent of the National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited for J$6 billion. A steal! Was NCB ever a truly national bank representing the interests of the majority of the citizens of Jamaica?

NCB is not the only bank that is failing to meet the needs of their clients. A Gleaner editorial was published two Saturdays ago with this headline, “Banks can do better.” I can do better than that headline: Di whole a di bank dem too thief. The editorial reported that, “The database of the Consumer Affairs Commission indicates that customers are dissatisfied with the profusion of fees demanded of them: for the use of automated teller machines, overdrafts, penalties and dormant accounts, as well as interest charges on outstanding balances, credit cards and loan accounts. They also complained about payments being posted to incorrect accounts or in incorrect amounts, as well as out-of-service ATMs and unauthorised deductions from their accounts via debit and credit cards.”

My story has a happy ending. As a result of my protest, the outrageous late payment fee was quickly reversed. But what about all those other dissatisfied customers whose cries are not being heard? How are we going to escape the vicious colonial legacy of the abusive banking sector? Like enslaved Africans, we must collectively revolt. That’s the only way the exploitation will ever cease.

Carolyn Cooper, PhD, is a teacher of English language and literature and a specialist on culture and development. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and karokupa@gmail.com.