14/08/2025
PREDATORS STILL IN PARADISE
… or banks’ oppressive fees and charges
By KEN ALI
IN October 2002, the prestigious Time magazine carried a startling expose of commercial bank greed in Trinidad and Tobago, under the headline “Predators in Paradise.”
Time told the story of corporate fraud worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and merchant banker Ved Seereeram’s relentless campaign for fair-play and justice.
Notably, the daily press never reported on Seereeram’s crusade.
I was then at TnT Mirror newspaper and gave a voice to Seereeram with a weekly column, in which he told of oppressive interest rates and charges and their impact on small businesses, mortgage holders, and families.
Later, on talk radio, we unravelled the crucial issue, with evidence and anecdotes.
Apart from letters from aggrieved customers, the daily newspapers have never highlighted – or editorialised on – the onerous charges even as banks’ profits sail to historic levels.
There is interlocking directorships and business elite connections among the newspapers and their parent companies, and banks, their subsidiaries and primary corporate clients.
As one example, a senior newspaper director sits on the board of a major financial institution, where he rubs shoulders with other corporate kingpins.
The dailies did not raise hell when some 6,000 small businesses flopped after the Covid-19 forced closures, unable to service bank loans, rehire workers, replenish stocks, etc.
The banks duly went on to record historic profits, becoming possibly the only financial organisations in the democratic world to bounce back so high immediately after the pandemic.
In other countries, banks were mandated to provide mortgage relief, credit card deferrals, customised small business support, no early-withdrawal penalties, consumer loan programmes, and other effective forms of aid.
As Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley ridiculed an opposition parliamentarian when he asked whether the government would step in the way Barbados’ Mia Mottley did.
Ms. Mottley had said: “Next thing, banks are going to charge you according to how skinny or fat you are.”
Rowley told the opposition Member of Parliament if he is “more comfortable in Barbados, he could go there.”
The Barbadian leader brought banks and the Central Bank around the table, where they firmed up more equitable fees and charges.
In T&T, Republic reported $1.75 billion profit in its most recent financial year, with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar agonising over “backroom deals” and “one per cent games.”
“Trinidad and Tobago deserves transparency and fairness,” the Prime Minister stressed.
The Guardian newspaper has now chosen to discuss the propriety of Ms. Persad-Bissessar’s language, sidestepping the dreadful effect of excessive charges.
As a brief aside, Guardian Media continues to bleed money -- $11.6 million in its most recent financial year – no doubt, partly the result of its lack of appreciation of the grinding issues hurting common people.
The long-running bank greed has finally prompted action from a Prime Minister, which, of course, is sweet music to Seereeram’s ears.
When I spoke with him as he vacationed abroad with his family, he had another bee in his bonnet.
“The issue of banks hoarding foreign exchange must be addressed,” he told me.
That’s for another day, Ved.
