…awaiting report from BoG
In light of the recent Republic Bank Visa scam, Finance Minister Winston Jordan has assured customers of that financial institution that they would be protected as he awaits a detailed report from Bank of Guyana on the issue, which has left several account holders with missing funds.
“All customers are protected under the banking laws…we have to do an investigation, and it has to be proven that their monies have been taken out of the account other than by them, and then the bank will have to make the necessary adjustments to their accounts,” Minister Jordan recently told INews.
Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited has confirmed that some customers were affected by fraudulent activity via their international Visa-One ATM cards. The Trinidad-owned financial institution has also noted that additional security measures will be put in place to protect its clients. This publication understands that affected customers are, however, facing many challenges to recoup their lost funds.
The bank is said to be carrying out stringent investigations to verify whether the missing money was spent by the account holder or by unauthorised individual(s).
“I don’t know whether it is a problem with their computer or something else. I can’t speculate, but I am going to wait on a report from the Governor (Dr Gobind Ganga),” the Finance Minister has said.
Dr Ganga was quoted in other sections of the media as saying that Republic Bank would have to refund its customers if the investigations reveal that the customers were not at fault.
The financial institution had explained that it is taking the necessary steps to regularise all affected accounts using a well-defined, standard process that focuses on reducing customer inconvenience.
According to the RBL, it has been able to quickly identify cases where customers’ cards were compromised, and was able to effectively minimise the risk to other customers.
Republic Bank also reminded customers of the need to be vigilant when using their debit cards, and to monitor their account’s activities.
