The recent issue of banking fees in Jamaica has raised the question, should finance houses have a conscience or should the capitalist imperative always prevail over the need to bring in more money?

Both Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Minister of Finance Dr Nigel Clarke have called on the commercial banks to consider the financial circumstances of Jamaicans and go about their business with a sense of social awareness.

Commercial banks say they have been painted as rapacious money-hungry operatives whose sole purpose is to make more revenue and profits regardless of the plight of Jamaicans. They say no consideration is given to the cost incurred for digitalisation, utilities, insurance and infrastructure and that they cannot avoid the “bad guy” tag.

What is clear is that they have to do a better job with their public relations, communications and how they interface with the public.

But most importantly, they have to convey what are their respective institutions all about. What do they stand for? Do they have a declaration of principles?

JMMB was founded by Joan Duncan in 1992 with a capital base of $190 million and over 20,000 accounts. She would be proud of what JMMB has gone on to accomplish but more specifically this statement: “We wish to take this opportunity to share our own guiding principles that we use to determine our fees, which have been the subject of much public discussion.”

“To be clear, JMMB believes in fairness. As a company founded on the core value of love and standing for the best interest of all, our belief in fairness has always been part of our DNA and impacts how we serve clients. We do not believe that our clients should be charged fees that can be deemed a nuisance to how they transact business with us,” the tri-country bank noted recently.

“For example, JMMB does not charge a teller transaction fee to our clients who come into a JMMB Bank branch to deposit or withdraw funds from their bank accounts. We do not charge an ATM usage fee to our clients who use a JMMB Bank ATM to withdraw funds and we have never charged a dormant account fee,” the company continued.

Definitive. This could have come from the mouth of Joan Duncan herself and if she is on a cloud plucking a harp, she no doubt would have a smile on her face hearing this.

On this issue, there is no obfuscation or prevarication from JMMB. It doesn’t seek to come off as a goodie-two-shoes courting public favour.

Of note here and in a way redeems JMMB is its stellar nine-month results. Natural justice does prevail; being fair does bring its rewards. You don’t have to be a rapacious money-grabber to succeed.

For the nine months ended December 31st 2021, JMMB Group which operates in Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Trinidad & Tobago, posted operating revenue of J$22 billion (a 33 per cent increase on the same period last year), generating a net profit of J$8.82 billion (a 119 per cent increase).

This was achieved during a pandemic the likes of which the world has not seen for a century and a time of contraction of the Jamaican economy. It is one of the stand-out earnings performances for the period under review.

It truly is a legacy if you can impart wholesome teachings to your children, they heed them and go on to build meaningful decent lives while creating their own legacies.

This is what Group CEO Keith Duncan had to say at JMMB’s press briefing held on Valentine’s Day: “We keep very, very close to our clients and we also ensure they are very much protected in this environment or any other environment that we face. We keep engaged. We have strategies that we use to keep our clients engaged, informed and their best interests is one of the guiding principles that we use. Once it is in the best interest of the client it will work for us – I learnt that lesson from my mother.”

“Do what is right by the client and your returns and profits will follow.”

What we do in life echoes through eternity.

Joan Duncan started with a capital base of J$190 million, four branches, a little over 20,000 accounts and a new approach to financial services.

Today, her children have kept the faith and remained true to the company’s founding principles. JMMB is in three countries and set to go into more. It has a capital base of J$63.8 billion. It has reported a 119 per cent increase in profits with assets of $609 billion. Today, JMMB has over 390,000 clients. It celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

They say children are your greatest gift and there are times when you can see why.

How much do I weigh? How much do you think I will with the burden of all your additional fees upon me?

It is not wrong to say this is unconscionable and needs to be reviewed with an agreeable compromise reached.

“When it comes to the setting of bank fees, it would seem as if our commercial banks are tone-deaf. There seems to be a callous disregard for the economic circumstances of a plurality of Jamaicans. How else do you explain that the banks have introduced a fee of $25 in one instance and $30.85 in another instance to withdraw your money from an ATM that they have put in place? And if you use another bank to withdraw your money it’s $60. Before this round of increases it was free,” said the Minister of Finance Dr Nigel Clarke, speaking at the 17th Jamaica Stock Exchange Regional Investments and Capital Markets Conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness drew attention to the importance of having a conscience and being aware of the social context when conducting business, declaring at the same JSE conference, “ Business leaders must pay attention to the social context. I have a higher duty to ensure equity and to protect the vulnerable. It makes good business to protect the people of the country.”

Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck has also weighed in here saying in strident tones: “Banks are making billions in fees for service and the service is the worst you can ever get across Jamaica. Somehow, the Government doesn’t want to legislate but if the banks form themselves into a cartel and set fees, then the Government has to intervene because we run a free market system.”

The writing is on the wall and banks should pay close attention. They should not in their pursuit for profits and keeping shareholders happy incur the wrath of Jamaicans and be stigmatised as arbiters of woe and grief.

JMMB has not gone down that road, and marches to the drum of its own beat, adhering to its founder’s principles.

Addressing the issue of exorbitant fees, JMMB’s Group Chief Marketing Officer Kerry-Ann Betton Stimpson said at the briefing earlier this week: “As a financial institution ourselves, we have issued a statement clarifying our position but at the end of the day we respect every financial institution’s or business right to charge the fees it chooses to charge.”

“We have our own position and we believe that ultimately, it’s about having our clients’ best interest at heart but recognising that we run a business at the same time. We have highlighted that we don’t do nuisance fees. We charge fees for value-added customised services. There are instances where we have to charge fees for cost recovery where there are fees charged by other financial institutions that we have no control over,” Betton Stimpson added.

“There are times where perhaps we would fall short in our service delivery and in those instances we would seek to waive fees or reimburse clients that have been impacted. So, at the end of the day, everybody has to do what they have to do. This is who we are as an organisation and the basis on which we were founded – on a core of love, having our clients’ best interests at heart, having the best interests of everyone. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve everyone who chooses to partner with us.”