'Government will not bully banks'

Finance Minister Audley Shaw has given assurances that the review of bank charges undertaken by the Government is not part of a strategy to create new legislation to intimidate commercial banks.

Shaw dismissed speculation about the Government's intention to introduce new legislation allowing the power to set lending and deposit rates already enshrined in law, pointing to Section 33, Sub-section 1 of the Bank of Jamaica Act.

The minister also noted that creating the legislation was inconsistent with the market system and the market-economy model practised in Jamaica.

"So we are not doing this to talk about framing new legislation. It's somewhere that we are not going," he declared.

Shaw said the BOJ review, which examined best practices and researched bank charges all over the world, had been completed and a report had been placed on his desk.

"When I review that report, we are going to use it as a basis to have a sit-down with the commercial banks," he said.

Last week, president of the Scotia Group, Bruce Bowen, welcomed the Government's decision to examine bank charges, saying that he was prepared to participate in such talks.