Tag Archives: Banks

Discarded human beings

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 22, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn Tuesday about 1.20 p.m. I went to First Citizens bank in Tunapuna to transact some business. I wanted to find out my balance and the last deposits and withdrawals that I made. I am aware that if I had Internet banking I could have conducted that exercise from the comfort of my home.

On my way to the bank I saw an old woman, struggling with her walker, and her two assistants—they turned out to be her grandchildren—helping her up the steps. She went into the bank, took a number, sat down and waited to be served by the tellers.
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How Our Banking System Dis-serves the Poor

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 02, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe issuance of the polymer $100 bill and the hardships it caused many citizens should make us realize how the banking system discriminates against the poor and looks down on them for having created an alternative financial system that serves their needs.

The Trinidad Express, in an insightful editorial, offered a useful history of banking in this country. It cautioned: “It is in the interest of the national economy and social harmony that policy makers and bankers understand T&T’s culture of savings and design instruments appropriate to them instead of demeaning them and pushing them underground.” (December 19).
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