Draconian banking measure for visitors

THE EDITOR: I have been involved in business for the past 27 years in Trinidad.

For all the years that I have conducted business, the one outstanding fact is that the PNM-led government has always and will always have no idea about commerce.

My latest discovery is that it is also anti-tourism.

Case in point: An elderly woman who resides in Canada but has shares in a local company came to spend the winter months in Trinidad. She has no local bank account but wanted to cash two cheques issued by the Canadian government.

She presented them to the company in which she has shares and was given the TT equivalent. The company tried to deposit the cheques into the company account but was told that could not be done unless the cheques were made out to the company and not the woman.

I ask why? If she endorses the cheques and they are deposited into the company account, the bank puts a hold on the account for the amount and should there be any problem and the cheques are dishonoured, the bank will debit the company account for the amount.

My second question is: what is the visitor to do? If she runs out of money while she is visiting, should she go on the street and beg or maybe stand at a corner with a squeegee. Some provision should be in place for visitors to access funds while they are here.

This draconian measure is definitely a case of overkill.

RICHARD DEANE

Diego Martin