Banks

He was responding to queries raised by Governor for East Sepik, Allan Bird in Parliament yesterday.

Minister Ling-Stuckey said there must be cooperation between banks, BPNG and the Government to address issues stemming from certain anti-money laundering and fraud policies that prevents Papua New Guineans from depositing large sums of cash.

Governor Bird said: “Our small people are being harshly dealt with by the banking system. They are not allowed to deposit K1000 in cash.”

And a concerted effort by these two bodies is needed to assure customers that their monies are safe.

Criminal court judge, Panuel Mogish made these remarks today when sentencing Thomas Karo, a man who received stolen properties of K322,660 as his share for transporting part of the proceeds from the robbery to five years in jail.  

He said the management of the two agencies involved in what he described as “the biggest robbery in the country” calls for an immediate review of its processes to avoid future mishaps.

Minister for Justice and Attorney General Ano Pala in a statement said the new legislation reduced the annual interest rate awarded by the court on pre-judgment interest and post-judgment interest and costs for claims against the State from 8% to 2% annually.

The Judicial Proceeding Act, 2015 provided for an 8% interest on judgments to reflect the bank lending rates.

However, in the new legislation, the 2% applies only for pre-judgements and judgements made on, or after January 1, 2014.

“All financial institutions must collaborate with the Government to help provide access to finance, training and development for local SMEs,” Maru said.

 Maru’s ministry will be launching the country’s first SME Policy and Master Plan this Thursday.

Bank South Pacific is backing the program with K50,000 today in Port Moresby.

The policy details the O’Neill-Dion Government’s plan to support and establish 500,000 SMEs by the year 2030.

That's the view of Avia Koisen, President of the PNG Women's Chamber of Commerce.

Addressing the issue of empowering women through SME development at a regional workshop on trade and investment in Fiji today, Koisen says through lobbying by her Chamber, the three major commercial banks in PNG; ANZ, Westpac and BSP now offer a help desk for women customers.

She hopes other banks in PNG will follow suit, including the PNG-government funded National Development Bank.