TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, March 14 - Port of Spain--- Minister of Social Development and Family Services, Senator the Honourable Donna Cox met with representatives of the Bankers Association of Trinidad and Tobago (BATT) earlier today, Wednesday March 9, 2022 to continue discussions on transiting the Ministry’s clients to electronic banking. The Meeting with the Bankers Association also provided the opportunity to establish workable solutions to combat these issues and create a seamless experience and an ease of doing business for all clients of the Ministry. Minister Cox was accompanied by one of the Ministry’s Permanent Secretaries, Jacqueline Johnson. Present at the meeting were BATT’s representatives Richard Downie, President of BATT and Kelly Bute-Seaton, Executive Director of BATT.

In her welcoming remarks, Minister Cox took the opportunity to congratulate the new BATT Executive and indicated that the meeting with the Association is critical, as the Ministry recently relaunched its promotional campaign on the direct deposit initiative.

According to Minister Cox, “The Ministry makes continuous efforts to ensure that meaningful solutions are created to safeguard senior citizens, particularly during these times of the pandemic, and also because of the high incidents of fraud and stolen cheques.”  The Minister also expressed concern about the issue of missing cheques and the undue hardship that this brings upon our clients who are vulnerable and in need of the support.

In response, representatives of BATT expressed that they look forward to strengthening the existing partnership. BATT also advised that special arrangements have been made to facilitate recipients of social welfare cheques and that the banks will continue to collaborate with the Ministry to get more persons on direct deposit.

Among the other items discussed at the meeting included:

·         Special services provided by BATT members for vulnerable groups

·         Encashing of cheques from entities other than those legally authorised: hardware stores, beauty salons, barber shops, cosmetic shops etc

·         Senior Citizens’ Pension Legislation

In closing, Minister Cox thanked BATT for their continued support and indicated that the Ministry remains committed to working closely with the Association to ensure that no one is left behind.