By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Central Bank of the Bahamas was holding almost $71 million in ‘dormant account’ funds at year-end 2012, having received a further $3.58 million last year.
The regulator’s 2012 annual report, released yesterday, revealed how much unclaimed money it is now holding, after the Banks and Trust Companies Regulation Act 2000 required institutions to transfer to it all funds from accounts where there had been no activity for seven years.
“During 2012, 85 licensees submitted a total of 1,123 dormant accounts, with value equivalent to $3.58 million and claims processed at $437,360,” the Central Bank said.
“At end-2012, dormant account balances outstanding, net of claims, aggregated $70.6 million and were denominated in eight currencies - led by the United States (51.1 per cent) and Bahamian (38 per cent) dollars.”
Elsewhere, the Central Bank reported that the Bahamas Automated Clearing House (BACH) processed 1.49 million transactions, largely payroll-related, worth $947.6 million during 2012. The volume and value of BACH transactions had increased by 23 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively.
With four internationally-branded debit cards in the Bahamian market, transactions involving them increased in number by 22.2 per cent in 2012 to 4.6 million, with their value rising by 16.1 per cent to $3.3 million.
The number of credit cards issued, meanwhile, fell by 5.6 per cent or 7,193 to 120,779, compared to an 8.4 per cent expansion in 2011.
“This outturn mainly reflected a 4,766 drop (4.8 per cent) drop to 93,653 for cards with limits under $5,000, which accounted for the bulk (77.5 per cent) of the total,” the Central Bank said.
“Similarly, the value of credit card debt declined by $8.2 million (3.2 per cent) to $243.7 million, due to declines in the under $5,000 and $5,000-$10,000 categories of $18.7 million (15.1 per cent) and $12.5 million (16.8 per cent) to $105.2 million and $61.9 million, respectively.”
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