Central Bank: Harbourside Chat -April 21st, 2026

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]for individuals.

[00:00:02]Our guests today are very seasoned in their respective field.

[00:00:07]We have, first of all, Mr. Matthew Aubry. He is the executive director for the Organization for Responsible Governance. So, he's very active in the advocacy space.

[00:00:18]We have Ms. Nina Maynard from the private sector. She is the human resources director for the Myers Restaurant Group of Companies. And she'll tell us a bit more about who the Myers Group is very soon.

[00:00:32]And we have Mr. Anya Archer, commercial banker. He's the managing director for Scotiabank in the Bahamas. Let's Let's start with you, Mr. Archer. Help the viewers to understand, you know, why commercial banks are important in our economy. And what is it about your job that you find fulfilling? Thanks for the question, Governor.

[00:00:55]Commercial banking is at the heart of economic activity. We are the ones that are facilitating trade. We are bringing ultimate borrowers and ultimate lenders together, acting as an intermediary.

[00:01:08]And we are facilitating growth, supporting government, and ensuring that the economy does well every year.

[00:01:16]What really gives me, you know, pride in in the work that I do is seeing small businesses being able to grow.

[00:01:24]Like I can think of a company where, you know, we lent them funds to grow um their vehicle business. And in doing so, they were able to expand within a 10-year period. And then I saw that business person 10 years later, he said to me, you know, you gave me my very first loan. And now look at where my business is. The business is as expanded.

[00:01:53]I have, you know, a lot more employees.

[00:01:56]We're servicing multiple markets, and we're expanding across the region.

[00:02:01]That's something that gives me pride because now we know that we have contributed to the growth of a business that is hiring persons within the economy and growing beyond our markets.

[00:02:12]Banking is very much about people, and it's not only about our clients, but it's also about our team members as well. Helping to build capacity within the economy, building leaders for the next generation who are going to be able to contribute to the growth within the Bahamas.

[00:02:30]Very proud about the work that we do, and you know, excited to continue to do that work to drive the success of the Bahamas.

[00:02:38]Thank you.

[00:02:40]Mr. Aubry, you are strong advocate for transparency, accountability, and good governance.

[00:02:47]Tell us, you know, how your experience to date has prepared you for the work that you do.

[00:02:54]Interesting question, thank you. So, as the executive director for the Organization for Responsible Governance, the first thing I think that we build our work on is that there is this mutual social contract between government and citizens.

[00:03:08]That neither can be successful without the other, right? And And that includes the private sector, and that includes our our communities wide and far, not just in in Nassau, but across the across the the family islands. And that really at the heart of it then talks to this topic of inclusion that that we're discussing today.

[00:03:26]That's where my background brings me. Um I I come from a very varied background, but came from a space where wasn't didn't have any resources, very poor, you know, not not coming into it, single mom, all of those things. So, when we do our work, our we're driven to not just represent those that are engaged enough to have those conversations and be involved in developing policies and and paying attention and reading the newspapers. In fact, we're actually much more concerned on those who typically don't get brought into the conversation. All those folks that historically tend to be marginalized, and in our communities, we have to recognize that a lot of that is our family island communities, or our over-the-hill communities, those who have the least because in truth, they're affected the most by often the policies or the investments or the developments that are made at government in government. Very often, they're presented with a solution to a problem that is being perceived around them. And And that leads to us developing some really great ideas and institutions, but not necessarily seeing the benefit of those developments, institutions, or policies on day-to-day lives of the majority of Bahamians. So, I I like that inclusivity theme. And I just want to put a plug in here for the Central Bank because even though we talk about financial inclusion, being included financially is also the inroad to being included more generally in society. So, that's why, you know, the financial side of it is important.

[00:04:58]Now, Ms. Maynard, you in your role as director of human resources with the Myers Group, you know, you bring a wealth of experience and knowledge around talent management and organizational leadership. You know, you know, with your background, tell us a bit first of all, you know, what is the Myers Group? And, you know, what are the challenging and satisfying aspect of your role in the Myers Group?

[00:05:27]Um so, the Myers Group is a conglomerate that operates KFC, Burger King, Anthony's, and Quiznos at this time. Um it's The Myers Group has been around for almost 60 years.

[00:05:43]Um so, we're kind of a pillar in the community.

[00:05:46]And our thrust right now is to make sure that anybody that comes to work with us or who works with us understands that our company is not just a job, it's a career opportunity for growth and development as well. So, we have a real great push when it comes to that. Um And I will also say that it's it's the challenging part for me sometimes is trying to get people to realize that they have the potential and being able to show up a better version of themselves and always open to learning and embracing that that opportunity to learn.

[00:06:19]Our company's motto, or one of our company's motto from our CEO, is that we want to be the hottest place to come and work at, and also the hottest place to leave because of the kind of culture, the kind of of environment that we create within our company where people where everybody everybody who works for us will have their needs met more than just their financial needs, but also their needs to grow and develop as people. So, let me ask you first, Mr. Aubry, how important is it for individuals and small businesses, you know, to have reliable affordable access to services for everyday transactions? I I think as you you you pointed out in our first exchange, I I I think it's critical.

[00:07:06]If you don't have a a means to participate in a system, you're going to get left behind. Or you're not going to be able to take advantage of that system. And And accessing money is on a reliable way, being able to use that is a really fundamental part for people to see themselves as part of a collective environment. I I do want to point out maybe something that I think may may be obvious, but it's also important to be stated, is that accessibility is not just based on having the availability.

[00:07:36]A lot of it also has to do with people's belief in the system and their belief about themselves as a part of that system. People feel that they don't see their interests represented, and so they have to figure their own way out. And so, when that leads to the process, people are moving outside of systems.

[00:07:52]We've seen large portions of our economy being informal. People who are doing a little side gig because they believe that's the best way they can keep themselves floating. They're baking bread, they're cutting hair, they're doing all these types of things. But, they're also not contributing into any of the tax bases that we see. And more importantly, in a space where we live at risk of things like hurricanes, they don't have a footprint. So, that if something gets demolished, and we saw this in Abaco and Grand Bahama, it's almost impossible to replace that. You don't have infrastructure, you don't have data, but you also don't have the ability to tap into loans or grants that could help to restore that. So, when we talk about inclusion, when we talk about creating access into a banking system, which I really do commend the Central Bank for pushing forward this this, you know, accessible banking line, it really is a start is a start for folks to be able to then start build on a foundation that can progressively lead them into being able to be more resilient or thriving.

[00:08:49]Yeah, but the issue of trust, is it that I have low confidence, and therefore I stay away from financial institutions, or is it that I don't have access to the kind of employment activity that would motivate me to to establish relationship with the financial institution? So, trust is trust is a is a is a tough concept, right? Because once it's broken, and for many different reasons, trust is built on consistency. It's built built on believing that the that things are treating me fairly and consistently the way it's treating others.

[00:09:27]And And so, I may be given an opportunity to have access, but if I don't believe, and it's not just the banking community, right? Or that experience. It's in our entire system.

[00:09:39]If I don't see that things are being fairly enforced, and I don't have a clear sense of how the game is being played, I I will either step back and wait until I see an avenue that I can finally trust, or I will find another way around. And we saw that through some of the informal banking that was happening in the communities that didn't have great access to banking through the gaming systems and things which which is not something >> just to defend the the gaming sector.

[00:10:06]This is not something that they embrace and I know that whenever they can they do undertake to do diligence and they monitor to ensure that these are one-to-one relationships. So So but we understand the issue.

[00:10:20]>> it was a it was it was a a creative person solution to a system that they didn't see met their particular needs.

[00:10:27]So when we're designing our systems, they have to be in in partnership and co-creation with those communities that need to be served so that they can build the ownership that is already built on a that that needs to be a part of accessing a system that has been designed to work well. And I and I I think this is a good leading leading to to you, Ms. Myers.

[00:10:49]You have um You're you're a large employer with over 800 persons, right? And um as you mentioned, there's at least 19, you know, restaurants across several brands.

[00:11:01]So help us understand the the profile of your employees.

[00:11:08]Is having a bank account a necessity for them to get a job? So having a way to get funds sent to you is a necessity because we do all of our banking and all of our payroll through electronic funds transfer.

[00:11:25]We don't give cash and we don't pay by check. So everybody gets paid through bank transfer.

[00:11:31]Um and again, that that really created some challenges for us, especially in recent years because most of the younger persons that come to work for us don't have bank accounts.

[00:11:43]And getting access to bank accounts because of the KYC requirement has been really difficult for some of them.

[00:11:51]Which is why we seek you guys out a couple summers ago.

[00:11:56]So that when we did our summer student hire, especially, we were able to give them some way of being able to get paid and be able to save their money. And so us being able to give them the access to the digital wallet through SandDollar really really really helped. And even now, as we hired new people on board who do not have bank accounts or do not have access to getting bank accounts, we use the SandDollar app and they're able to get that that banking. I'm glad that you mentioned the the SandDollar because it it really comes at the end point of some of the other um simplified due diligence reform that the Central Bank did really to make certain that those who are just the basic transaction level can go in and open up a bank account or digital wallet account and satisfy the the due diligence requirements that are just as robust as would be the case in any country around the world and to the to the international standards.

[00:13:01]Uh in your experience are you getting feedback from individuals as well about the hesitancy to open up accounts?

[00:13:12]Um I would say that they while they would be hesitant, they realize that it's a necessity because they cannot get employment with us and most other businesses now without having a bank account or some way of getting money transferred to them electronically. And so they realize it's a necessity. COVID we we made us realize that we were operating in bedrock.

[00:13:35]Really like the Flintstone times because we couldn't we couldn't function um digitally during COVID. And so when COVID was finished, we undertook the really mammoth task of making sure that our our our organization would be able to function really no matter what what kind of um hit that we get economically to be able to function as normal. And so we we digitalized almost every aspect of our business. Our payroll system um was the one of the first things that we had to digitalize. And because we have four different companies, we had to be able to accommodate so many different ways to pay and so many different aspects of payroll. So now our payroll system is completely digitalized. Our team gets the schedule through digital means. All of that. And what that means [clears throat] is that we're now able to give them the opportunity to um have a real um uh history of their bank of their of their um employment and their and their funds to be able to access even from a commercial banking system.

[00:14:47]Um things like loans and that kind of thing because they can show their history. They can show that this in this year they would have made $30,000 or $40,000 or that this is a they've been employed for 20 years and this has been their history. And so we've been able to help in that way as well. So this has really helped us quite a bit and it's helped us to include not just the persons who are younger, but also to assist the persons who are older who before that did not have the means to be able to do that as well.

[00:15:18]Why is the KYC or the due diligence process important? And how does that experience look, say, for a cashier versus someone else who you might think they have a bit more of a a risk around their their persona?

[00:15:39]So When I think about the KYC process, there are there are three things I think are really important. One is that we're protecting the reputation of our jurisdiction. We're protecting our clients and we're protecting the bank.

[00:15:52]Since I've been in my role, what I've seen is that we've simplified the approach that we can take with our clients based on the risk that they're bringing to the bank. And it's a lot easier for us to onboard clients who are doing simple transactions now.

[00:16:10]Even as we were talking before, one of the things that we are looking to do is with our existing commercial clients, our corporate clients, to the extent they have employees who may not have what I consider to be traditional documents. We're working with those employers to find ways to onboard those clients so that everyone can have access to banking. And that's a project that our retail team has started this year working with our commercial banking team. So that's something that we want to do because we want to be part of financial inclusion and we want to make sure that we're doing it in a risk-based with a risk-based approach. The reality is that there going to be those larger clients who bring increased risk to our our business that we want to take some time to sit with and we want to understand their business so that we can make sure that we understand that risk and that we're in a position to manage that risk. But those are sophisticated um businesses and they understand those processes. But for smaller clients doing simple transactions, we want to make it as easy as possible. The two follow-up questions I have. One is that um there is often a a complaint in the public that even within the same financial institution, the experience varies depending on who they encounter. And so the question would be, you know, how do you manage the consistency at which your your rules and standards applied? And second, when you talk about the risk approach, customers will typically get into an argument or disagreement sometimes as to, you know, whether they are as risky as you you you you make them out to be.

[00:17:55]How do you manage that interaction? Uh we've digitized the account opening for um Bahamians.

[00:18:02]And so the Central Bank has given us guidelines on how we can go about onboarding those clients. And our digitized um and electronic onboarding more or less follows the Central Bank's guidelines. Um nevertheless, you'll always have persons that don't necessarily meet before within the guidelines. And then those are referred to the branch. And when the branch is engaged, um we want to as best as possible facilitate opening what I consider to be simple basic accounts. And our team basically engages our risk managers to the extent the challenge is outside of the parameters that the Central Bank would have designed for us at the beginning.

[00:18:48]Um and and that's I think how we try to get the consistency across the business because what we're doing is we're leveraging our risk managers to help to give us guidance, um but also challenging them to ensure that we are able to onboard clients that don't present a significant risk to the bank. But ideally, what has allowed us really to standardize is the digitizing of the onboarding process because we're following the Central Bank's guidelines and only outliers go to the branch.

[00:19:17]Do you ever do any assessment or do you have any sense of what the operational experience, efficiency, cost, or otherwise looks like for businesses that have transitioned more to the digital space, whether it's for payroll or for payment? Because lots of us can relate to when the KFCs and the others may have started to accept credit and debit cards. And you're telling us as well that you've transitioned in terms of payroll and the like. What did you see different? So for us, what it meant is it made our operation more efficient. So again, we took on a mammoth task of making sure that we improved our operation through technology.

[00:20:00]And so by doing that, now I'm sure you're aware that we have even a loyalty program with an app that if you purchase with us, you can you can gain points and you can also redeem them. And so we need to make sure that our that our operations were able to handle that along with the other digitalization. I can honestly tell you that now that we're we're even more um we've we've partnered with Scotiabank to make sure that our um uh credit card and debit card um platform um is is so well integrated into our POS systems that when somebody comes and they're able to redeem their points or gain them, they can also tap their cards or they can they can they can move faster. So that means that every it is easier. We're about to launch in a few months um kiosk.

[00:20:56]As you walk into our restaurant, so you don't necessarily have to walk up to a cashier, you can put in your order yourself. And in addition to that, um we're also uh looking into online ordering and delivery and all of those things to make sure that we make it easier for our customers, but also easier for our team.

[00:21:15]Because the more efficient that we can operate, the more efficient our team is our team can work smarter rather than harder. And so our focus really is to make sure that we our organizational excellence moves in a way where we are operating smarter rather than harder.

[00:21:30]And I can honestly tell you that for us, um technology is um opened many many doors or made our operation way way more um um efficient, but also for us to be able to gather the kind of data that we need to show the improvements and show where our challenges are. So we can actually pinpoint which day part in each of one of our businesses is challenged, what about that day part is challenged, we can we can we can pinpoint um if if this particular revenue center is the problem or if um we need to improve this and we get we get real-time real-time answers right away. So I think that that that technology for us has been an eye-opener. So there are definitely fees involved with all of these digital payments acceptances as opposed to when you accepted cash. And I know that the the business community is not very happy about the the merchant fee structure and there's probably some some justification for that in the Bahamas. But can you recall at all any of your experience in terms of how that fee structure and rather of increasing your reliance on digital transactions, how that contrasted with any of the other expenses that you dealt with when you were less digital? So when we're less digital, we paid for more paper. Mhm. Right? We also paid for more people to work because uh more people to do the same job. And now because we are improving our operation through technology, that means that we're making sure that our team grows and develops so that so now one person can learn and do more than one thing.

[00:23:14]Um so for us, we have a cost-benefit analysis, right? So yes, it does cost more in fees in terms of being more digital and having more digital access.

[00:23:23]But in terms of how our operation is working efficiently and effectively, but also how much it's meeting the needs of our team in terms of their growth and development as well. So the return on the investment for us is about equal. So I want to ask you um Mr. Aubrey, um and from the you know the what policy makers might be able to do, policy makers and regulators, um you know, what should our role be in terms of trying to speed up or and incentivize the the modernization process for for payments and and and access? So my my first answer, which is probably not the one that anybody wants to hear, is I don't know that speed is the best answer.

[00:24:06]Um adoption of technology is is based on a a mix of functionality, um accessibility, and also to some degree aspirational, right? I mean, we all have we all have smartphones and if you look on probably anybody's smartphones, we all have just, you know, two dozen apps.

[00:24:27]We use five of them. And those five are the ones that they they work well, but they also are the thing we want. And and so I think coming back to that, uh it comes back to from a policy maker standpoint or a regulator standpoint, finding that bridge of how to understand that formula at the user level and what the user not only experiences, but what the user uh ultimate goal is and objective.

[00:24:53]And and too often I think we create things. I mean, the Bahamas, we have brilliant people coming with world-beating solutions. Sand Dollar has gotten so much international recognition, but I would contend that there's still folks to whom this whole solution was originally created who had difficulty accessing because of long distances in our family islands or or or a move of of commercial bank banking centers out of some of those islands that they still are struggling with adoption. They're still struggling to understand or use this this this technology. And I don't think it's a lack of comfort with technology because everybody's granny has what WhatsApp and and is using access where they see it as functional. So it's about starting the process of consultation in a more two-way dialogue, making the time to help our communities to not only be acknowledged that they are struggling with these challenges, but that they also have their lived experience which can help to contribute to the solutions.

[00:25:52]So I think as we develop these ideas ideas that that have great merit and great potential solutions for us, that we also have to figure out how we marry that development of those early discussions to to be able to build that ownership and trust so that we're not creating a solution and then having to invest a lot of money to try and convince folks that that solution is there. Well, I think >> Businesses, I'm sorry, businesses might have an inherent obvious benefit because there was an expenditure that was there.

[00:26:20]But community level citizens may not see that that cost-benefit analysis at the same level yet.

[00:26:26]>> Well, I think I think that's that's why balance is important and I think it's important for all stakeholders to be balanced in their input. The Bahamas does not have the luxury of time, right?

[00:26:36]And when I listen to the Myer's Group and how they're trying to expand the reach of their services, and we're talking about financial inclusion, I'm concerned now that there's going to be a subset of your customers who can't use the kiosk or who cannot order online because they lack the interface. So we need to make certain that they get that.

[00:26:58]>> No, we still take cash.

[00:26:59]>> [laughter] >> But can I pay cash if I am three blocks away from from from the order point?

[00:27:06]That's that's going to be the challenge.

[00:27:08]The trust issue.

[00:27:10]Is the trust issue one of perception or is it in reality? If it is perception, then we address the perception. Why are people not comfortable? Is it cybersecurity? Is it data security? Then I think you can confront those. And so being proactive, I think in terms of how you confront trust issue. Otherwise, um I sometimes feel that we will get people to buy into the idea that there's a trust issue when they are unable even to articulate what's their mistrust.

[00:27:47]>> So so trust trust uh trust is as I said, a very slippery concept, right? But perception we know in many instances is reality. And and we we see that um you know, we do a lot of work in say the anti-corruption space. And we used to talk about and ask people when, you know, if they felt like there was corruption at a certain level. And before COVID and and Dorian, before we got to digitalizing a lot of our government services, which removes the potential of people actually dealing with a person who would ask for a bribe, the level of people's perception stayed the same.

[00:28:24]And the reality that can't be true, right? Because we've taken away some of the opportunity. But that lived experience of seeing things happening that happened inconsistently, perceiving that things are are fair, it takes a while to rebuild that. So consistency in our approach, in the way that we ask folks, in what we ask them about, in how we process it, is going to be part of how we get to where you're you're talking about. It can't just It's not going to happen on one event. It's that we're adopting a scenario to to acknowledge that trust is an issue, but also not let that be what we sit on that's to prevent it.

[00:28:59]>> And that's why I think that their stakeholders have to be balanced in how they're approaching and getting the citizens to grapple with the issues. Um and so there is uh a constructive side of to that. But I want to thank all of you for being on the podcast the show today. It's certainly been a very very um rewarding and insightful conversation.

[00:29:26]I'm very glad that we had such a a cross-sectional perspective, business, We the organization for responsible governance from the governance side, and then we have the commercial banker in the hot seat. Thank you so much.

[00:29:39]>> [laughter] >> Thank you all very much.

[00:29:41]Uh it has been a pleasure having you uh on HabourSide Chats today. Thank you.

[00:29:46]>> Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

[00:29:48]Let me say to to our audience, thank you as always for joining us. Remember Harbour Side Chats with the Governor. We we partner with ZNS Television, so you can catch these replay on ZNS as well as on our social media channel.

[00:30:07]You can also send us email at [email protected].

[00:30:12]If you have any suggestions on topics that we may cover in future shows. Again, it's a pleasure having you and we look forward to many more of these stimulating and informative dialogue.

[00:30:29]At Bahama Boulevard, I'm Shuan [music] Innis. This is ZNS.

[00:30:35]>> [music] [music] >> Good day and welcome to the DIRA Let's Talk Sense. I'm your host P'yon Todd, the Training Communications Manager here at the Department of Inland Revenue.

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