Central Bank Governor Advocates for Increased Competition Between Banks and Credit Unions

The Central Bank Governor, Kareem Michael, is preparing to push for greater competition between banks and credit union.  Governor Michael was one of the presenters at the 54^th Annual Monetary Studies Conference at the Bank of Jamaica recently, and had expressed the dire need in Belize to have the two more competitive.  According to the news outlet, Jamaica Observer, Michaels indicated that the government is looking to implement draconian policies, but he is hoping to take a softer approach.  He noted that the last thing he would want to do is to begin dictating fees and charges.  The new policy, according to Michael, will give the banks competition in terms of easy access to affordable consumer loans.  He added that for some time now, consumers have been complaining of bank fees at every turn, and that by pushing for a Credit Union Act to be brought into law, some of these issues would be remedied.  According to Michael, come December 2023, there will be new policies in place as they relate to the fees depositors must pay to access cash and services from the commercial banks.  Love News understands that there are currently eight credit unions in Belize with assets totaling one point three billion dollars at the end of June. At the same time, the country has four banks with Belize Bank and Atlantic Bank having over 83 per cent of the commercial banking assets which amounted to four point six billion Belize dollars.