[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ast week I proffered the idea that credit unions are an essential instrument of savings. Credit unions’ savings can be mobilized to help develop a country socially and economically, and yes, politically. I also suggested there should be a resurgence of persons seeking membership in credit unions, encouraged by politicians and persons in leadership positions. This week I am pleased to observe that the 1st National Bank has taken the bold step of offering 80 customers 100% financing on home mortgages. That is to say, for eighty lucky customers, no deposits required on loans for home construction. The offer comes after some banks had earlier offered easy loans for the purchase of motor vehicles. What type of skewed policy would allow banks to offer vehicle purchase more easily than that of land and house to deserving customers? The example of 1st National Bank ought to be copied by other banks.
It bears repeating that in its short time the Saint Lucia Forum promoted ideas for the social and economic development of the island. Although some people may have imagined the contrary, the group was no ordinary black power advocate. Neither was it a group of angry young men seeking attention. Its membership included economists, agriculturists, lawyers, tax experts, teachers, historians and technicians. They were mature people, not hot heads advocating the abandonment of everything foreign or of European input. That may explain why some conveniently l it a third political party. Its platform rhetoric and public image were unlike anything the island had previously encountered. This is why, as a surviving member of the group, I feel duty-bound to repeat its strongly held view that the political parties at the time did not embrace the Forum. I might go so far as to say they considered the group something of “the enemy within”. Consequently its ideas were never effectively communicated to those who stood to benefit most from them. But times have changed. It warms my heart to observe that the island’s 1st National Bank is breaking new ground to mark its 80th year. In the process, the bank has gone where some politicians feared to go. One can only pray that the Bank of Saint Lucia—the other local bank—will use this occasion to review the reason for its own formation, and set a new path to profitability and the payment of dividends to its many loyal shareholders. Building confidence, through sound management is the responsibility of every institution in which citizens repose their trust and lodge their scarce resources.
Keeping one’s eyes on the ball in politics means keeping at the forefront of one’s mind that food, clothing and shelter remain man’s most pressing needs. To this we may now add education. I am happy to observe that an increasing number of Saint Lucians are finally recognizing how valuable education is and why we continue to regard Cuba as such a dear friend. The acquisition of important information (education) versus its neglect, is no longer a matter for debate. A little education in this context was never “a dangerous thing”. It has always been preferable to no education at all!
The burden of any serious political message must include ways and means to help and support entrepreneurs and legitimate small businesses. It matters little what the political persuasion of the entrepreneur or business person might be. The reason they must each be equally assisted to prosper is quite simple: success breeds confidence, and encourages more first-time entrepreneurs and start-up small businesses.
There are people who remember when a local Joe Blow was greeted with the kweyol phrase pas-nee-loan! (No loans!). This was at the fledgling St. Lucia Co-Operative Bank—the beloved “penny bank”. Its earliest managers and directors were committed to the bank’s survival. Can we say the same today of the other local bank? No sooner had certain politicians laid their hands on the BOSL than serious challenges popped up. How did that sacred bank at one point fall so low? Who was engineering the bank’s decisions? The answer, my friends, may not be blowing in the wind but it is no secret that politics was at the root of the decisions that eroded the peoples’ trust and the bank’s ability to pay dividends.
That’s the difference between the old, faithful 1st National and the other. Are the shareholders and customers of 1st National Bank smiling? Those who, like me, built their homes with loans from the St. Lucia Co-Operative Bank many years ago are grateful for the support this monument to local banking afforded us. We pray it continues to employ and promote local managers and a local board of directors, and fearlessly break new ground in support of its many customers.
It is no cheap patriotism that one speaks of when one intones the Forum’s determination that “the commanding heights of the economy” ought always to be in local hands. And it does not matter how many branches locally and internationally 1st National Bank may establish in the future; the philosophy of using the people’s savings for their own development should remain central to its purpose.
There is every reason for local commercial banks and the credit unions to complement each other if they aim to provide funds for the development of their members and customers. Saint Lucians’ savings (in Saint Lucia) must be used to promote local industry and citizens, and not fly-by-night, fast-talking foreign crooks. I say unequivocally that local banks and credit unions must give the people of Saint Lucia more reasons to celebrate.
