The light bill can come later. KYC delays, and annoyances, that can be fixed:
DAVID NOEL, the top spokesman for Jamaica’s banks, wants compliance personnel to become more surgical in their determination of risk so that legitimate clients are not denied access to financial services, even as the industry builds walls to keep some people out of the system.
He noted that as a banking executive – as president & CEO of Scotia Group Jamaica – he was concerned about financial inclusion and how the industry can play a bigger role in the development and growth of the economy.
“How do we play a bigger role in providing services to more and more Jamaicans and providing access to credit at affordable rates?” asked Noel, who was speaking Wednesday as president of the Jamaica Bankers Association at the annual anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism conference in Kingston.
“To do that, we have to find a way to allow them to be able to open accounts with us more easily. We have to find ways to be able to provide them with services easily in their communities. We have to leverage technology to be able to better serve them,” he said.
“But as compliance practitioners and professionals, that always seems a challenge. We see our jobs as sometimes to build barriers, to build walls, to keep the criminals out. And sometimes in building those walls – which are built for good reasons – we are sometimes keeping many legitimate people out of our banking system as well.”
The banking sector needed to apply the Know Your Customer, or KYC, guidelines in a smarter way, so as not to raise blockades to business, citing as example where staff demand every last bit of documentation before opening an account.
“The truth is that when we look at these suspicious activity reports that we file and we look at some of our true money-laundering cases, the folks involved are not those who have any difficulty getting an ID, driver’s licence or providing us with documents. They tend to be people who get through the door easily,” said the JBA president.
“I think we need to find ways to have systems in place so the average Jamaican can open an account (and) we can verify their identity without it being a hassle,” he said, adding that he fully supported the government’s proposed National Identification System.
“While we want to build walls to keep some people out, we need to find smart ways to allow legitimate people to access financial services so that we can broaden the financial inclusion in Jamaica, help grow our economy and help people save,” Noel asserted, as a challenge for experienced compliance professionals to address.