Central Bank report: Up to two weeks to start a personal bank account

The Central Bank of The Bahamas, in an inaugural survey report on bank account openings, said that the average time for an individual to open a bank account is between one and two weeks.

The Bank Account Opening Survey was launched last year in November and covers the period of January to June 2024. Six commercial banks participated in a 16-point questionnaire.

The semi-annual survey is expected to identify operational and regulatory factors that can be targeted to increase the transparency and efficiency of the banking experience. From a financial inclusion perspective, such insights could also improve the ease of access to transactional services.

The report also said: “While the survey’s reported average incidence of unsatisfied applications was low, interventions to reduce such experiences by the public could still have a meaningful, positive impact on customer services and the ease of banking in The Bahamas.

“Additionally, there is scope within some financial institutions to improve the monitoring of customer services, by aligning the institutions’ estimate of the full duration of application processing timelines, with the estimates tracked by the public. In particular, some banks do not yet monitor the delays at the onset of applications, during which due diligence documentation might be incomplete.”

Opening a bank account in The Bahamas is a historically lengthy process, with businesses facing an average wait of over two months at times. The Central Bank is working to improve the ease of doing business by streamlining processes and improving customer due diligence.

The report also said: “The data reveals that over the survey period, compared to businesses, individuals experience a more expedited encounter with opening accounts.

“Further, while nearly all the applications were processed within the review period, outcomes were still impacted by incomplete applications, which were either missing information or required additional documentation.

“These applications were on average one to two weeks old, adding to the time it took to conclude the process. Further, some applications were ultimately withdrawn, and the reasons were not asked of respondents.”

All financial institutions disclosed that once all supporting documentation was received, decisions were made on applications in less than a week, the report noted.

The report continued: “During the first half of 2024, commercial banks reported that a total of 28,153 deposit applications were received, including those deemed to be incomplete. Of this total, approximately 99.1 percent were processed during the review period. The vast majority were classified as resident applications (27,347), with the remaining 806 submitted by non-residents. By account type, most requests were for savings accounts (72.6 percent), followed by demand deposits (15.1 percent) and fixed placements (9.4 percent).

The semi-annual survey tracks key indicators around the process of opening deposit accounts at commercial banks. In addition to metrics on the speed of the process, the survey is also designed to track changes in selected factors and processes that influence the outcome of the application, including customer systems, training and staffing.