Commercial Bank Pushed Back on “Harmonization”

Kareem Michael

According to the Central Bank Governor, the decision of the bank to fix the exchange rate of two Belize dollars to one U.S. dollar will greatly benefit the public. And while that is good news for consumers, Michael says that there was some level of push back by the commercial banks.

Kareem Michael, Governor of the Central Bank of Belize
“Certainly the commercial banks as authorized dealers voice concerns similar to yours that we would be that they would be losing or incurring no more expenses for the administration of certain services and lines of products. That’s well within their right to express. They’re obviously a private institution that is motivated by profit and to return income or dividends to their shareholders. So that’s understandable. What we do hope that the financial model or business model employed by a commercial banks would account already for some of these services and then you’re pricing various products to compensate for what may have been lost through this harmonization.”