Banks in Fiji still have fully employed staff with full benefits although revenue has been affected – Ram

The Chairman of Association of Banks, Rakesh Ram says while commercial banks are also suffering because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all banks in Fiji still have fully employed staff with full benefits.

Ram says they continue to do this when credit growth has gone down by about 20 per cent and when their revenue has stalled and operational costs remain the same.

Ram who is also the CEO of HFC Bank says they are not lending money because the market has slowed down and they don’t have the same level of trade and foreign exchange business.

He says HFC Bank has gone ahead and recruited 15 more staff this year while their costs remain high.

HFC Bank recorded an after-tax profit of $18.2 million for the financial year ending June 2019 and according to Ram, they were looking at just over $20 million after-tax profit for the financial year ending June 2020.

He says more than 50% of the profit will go towards provisioning for doubtful debts. 65 to 70% of HFC Bank customers have been provided with loan deferments.