The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

ISLAND Luck CEO Sebas Bastian yesterday criticised the Free National Movement for not speaking out enough against the impending layoffs of an estimated 50 employees from Scotiabank (Bahamas).

Mr Bastian yesterday expressed disappointment with the Official Opposition who seemingly “only like to bash (the Bank of The Bahamas)”.

For more than a year, the FNM has raised the alarm over BOB’s management and the bank’s financial losses.

In January, party leader Dr Hubert Minnis led a march and held a protest outside the bank’s Shirley Street branch and called on the government to fire the bank’s management team.

However, Mr Bastian said in view of this latest “stunt” by Scotiabank, the FNM’s focus should not be on bashing BOB, but to help make the institution the “number one bank in the Bahamas.”

“I’m waiting to hear from our politicians now, especially the opposition that only likes to bash the local bank,” Mr Bastian said. “Now we have an international bank doing these type of things and I haven’t heard one word from any of them yet, and that’s concerning to me because we have to put politics aside sometimes. Too many things fall victim to the political system and we forget what the true agenda is which is to better the Bahamas.

“Everybody is just interested in speaking out on the things that gives them political points. That has to stop. What the opposition has to understand is that there could be a likely event where a government is changed, and this could become their problem.

On Monday, Scotiabank confirmed that eight branches will be affected by its restructuring over the next six months, leaving about 50 people unemployed.

However, officials said they were working to minimise the impact.

On Monday, Dr Minnis raised concerns that dozens of people will be added to the unemployment line. He appealed to bank executives to remain sensitive to the financial obligations of those affected.

Mr Bastian said the move shows that “Bahamians are now victims to profits and of these Canadian banks and the only thing we have to hold on to is our own, which is BOB.”

Meanwhile, Scotiabank (Bahamas) is one of several Canadian owned banks that have said it will not accept deposits from web shops. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), CIBC FirstCaribbean and Scotiabank have all argued that their global policies prevent them from accepting deposits/monies derived from interactive or online gaming.

However last month, two of BOB’s shareholders said they had no objection to the bank accepting deposits from a legalised web shop gaming industry, and questioned why other Bahamian institutions were not following its lead.

In May, the government is expected to announce which web shops have been approved for gaming house operator licenses, which will allow them to operate in a legal, regulated market.

Last November, Mr Bastian revealed his company let go 47 employees when the Gaming Act came into force because their positions were not included in the new legislation.