PC bank permanently closing three branches
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Three branches of the National People’s Cooperative Bank, commonly called the PC Bank, are to be closed next month, the bank has confirmed.
Among them are one in St Thomas, one in St Elizabeth and the one in Red Hills, St Andrew.
A notice on the door at the Red Hills branch today read: “Notice is hereby given that the Red Hills Branch of the National People’s Cooperative Bank of Jamaica Limited will cease operating as a branch of the Society on Friday, November 6, 2020 at 12:00pm.”
“Members are invited to indicate to the Society (Branch) by Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 3:30 pm, the branch of choice to which their account/s should be transferred, failing which the account will be transferred to: Stony Hill Branch, 7 Fort George Road, Stony Hill, St Andrew.”
Residents of Red Hills are not taking the decision well, and are threatening to start a petition and get the member of parliament involved.
“Everybody I’ve spoken to from the community so far is upset,” Fiona Miller Burke told OBSERVER ONLINE.
“While it might be fine for me, because I have accounts at other traditional banks, and I can jump on a bus and go wherever, what about the farmers and the elderly people who don’t have an alternative?” she asked.
A member of the bank’s management team who declined being identified by name, told OBSERVER ONLINE that the decision was related to COVID-19.
“It was a business decision. We, like everybody else, including our members, have been affected by COVID, so it had a part to play in it but it wasn’t the only consideration.
“The reports out of PIOJ (Planning Institute of Jamaica) and BOJ (Bank of Jamaica) and overseas agencies show what is happening and we are not immune. We are literally all in this together.
“Contraction is happening all over the place; but we will recover, I’m sure,” the manager said.
The PC bank has a network of 30 branches islandwide. The co-operative financial institution historically has a large agricultural customer base, but it also offers services in education, home improvement, micro business, energy, land titling & upgrading, motor vehicle acquisition, and other sectors.
