OPPOSITION Leader Philip J. Pierre has called on local banks to explain why they refuse to cash cheques made out to non-customers – and to stop the practice “if a reasonable and sensible explanation is not forthcoming.”
In a letter dated July 9, 2018 and addressed to the President of the Bankers Association of Saint Lucia, Mrs Wendy Delmar, the Opposition Leader said, it had been brought to his attention “that there is a recently-introduced practice by certain banking institutions as it relates to the cashing of cheques.”
Pierre said he’d “learned that even if the necessary funds are available, certain banks are refusing to cash cheques written to customers, unless the recipient is a client of or holds an account with the bank that the cheque is written to.”
“To my mind,” the Opposition Leader told Mrs Delmar, “this seems like a serious infringement on the rights of individuals to their legitimate property.”
Mr Pierre called on “the banking institutions that have adopted this practice” to “cease immediately, if reasonable and sensible clarification cannot be forthcoming.”