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MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2025
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BTC unions ‘standBahamas’ ‘double-edged by’ on ‘credit card sword’ over medications scam’ firings By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas must “make the right moves” and seek new supply sources to counter the “doubleedged sword” of higher medicine prices and reduced availability stemming from threatened US tariffs. Dr Marvin Smith, the Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association’s (BPA) president, told Tribune Business that Donald Trump’s proposed 100 percent tariffs on all branded and patented drugs imported into the US will “not be that big a deal” for this nation provided it prepares ahead of their impact by sourcing more quality medications from outside the US. The US president has paused the planned October 1 implementation of border taxes that would have doubled the cost of imported pharmaceutical drugs as his administration tries to negotiate lower prices with manufacturers, and drive them to establish production facilities in North America, but Dr Smith said The Bahamas must realise “our neighbour to the north is not as neighbourly as we think”. While a considerable amount of uncertainty, as always, surrounds Mr Trump’s tariff policies, and thus
t 5SVNQ UBSJGGT UISFBU UP MPDBM ESVH DPTUT BWBJMBCJMJUZ t /BUJPO NVTU ANBLF SJHIU NPWFT PWFS DR MARVIN DR DUANE SMITH SANDS OFX TPVSDFT drugs and their effects when they t 4BOET arrive in-country - should speed up regulatory process by relying on A&OUSFQSFOFVSJBM the World Health Organisation (WHO) and home country approvals for the PQQPSUVOJUJFT pharmaceutical producers supplying NBZ SFTVMU this nation. the consequences for medication costs and availability in The Bahamas remain unclear, the Association president told this newspaper that Bahamians should also consult their doctor and/or pharmacist about switching from branded to generic drugs of the same quality to “save money”. And, to assist with sourcing medicines from outside the US, he argued that The Bahamas - while monitoring
‘Basic accounts’ capped at $33,800 annual activity By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN commercial banks will be taking “a keen interest” in whether “political and public pressure” forces a change in the balance size and activity limits for the proposed ‘basic bank account’. Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune Business that the Central Bank and Clearing Banks Association (CBA) are largely “in agreement” that activity involving such accounts be capped at $33,800 worth of transactions per annum - a
GOWON BOWE sum equal to 2.5 times’ the annual minimum wage. The maximum account balance will also be tied to
PRESSURE - See Page B4
Legal reform to boost depositor protections By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Central Bank has unveiled a sweeping package of legal reforms designed to “strengthen our oversight” through an enhanced framework to deal with troubled licensees and boost depositor protections. The banking regulator, launching a consultation on proposed changes to the Banks and Trust Companies Regulation Act, Central Bank of The Bahamas Act,
Protection of Depositors Act and Payment Systems Act, along with their accompanying regulations, said the reforms were based on recommendations made by two previous International Monetary Fund (IMF) missions. Besides introducing a new regulatory framework for dealing with bank liquidations, and troubled “pertinent financial institutions”, the reforms will also switch regulatory oversight for payments services
CHANGE - See Page B6
Medicines transiting through the US are also likely to be caught by Mr Trump’s tariffs, if and when they take effect, and Dr Smith noted that The Bahamas typically sources products such as IV bags and solutions from its northern neighbour. “They are not manufactured a lot in the US; the base manufacturing is done elsewhere, so you may see a cost increase in those,” he warned.
DRUGS - See Page B5
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) two trade unions have placed members “on stand-by” over the firings of five staff - three of whom they allege were unjustly blamed for a cell phone purchase scam. Both Sherry Benjamin, the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) president, and Kenny Knowles, the Bahamas Communications and Public Managers Union’s (BCPMU) chief, told Tribune Business the trio had been made scapegoats for what they asserted were failings in BTC’s own internal controls. These deficiencies, they alleged, had permitted some unscrupulous contract workers to perpetrate a scam where stolen and false credit card numbers were used to buy cell phones at a particular BTC retail store which they did not identify. Those terminated were said
STEPHEN COAKLEY-WELLS to have been the store manager, a BCPMU member, plus a cashier and “junior” employee in BTC’s finance department. The union presidents said the trio were accused of being “derelict in their duties” for failing to detect the fraud, but Ms Benjamin said the finance department employee - one of her members - had spotted the suspicious activity and sought to alert superiors yet BTC failed to take prompt action against the real culprits.
UNIONS - See Page B5