Statement from the Government of Nauru – Re Banking
A report yesterday (14 April) by
the ABC, and repeated in the Guardian, about the involvement of
Australian banks in Nauru is misleading and represents continued
politically motivated attacks by the ABC against the Government and
people of Nauru. The ABC continues to be the mouthpiece of Nauru
opposition MPs and interfere in our country's domestic
affairs.
The facts - that don't seem to matter to some media organisations
- are very different from this fabricated story. The Government of
Nauru has made a decision to strengthen its business and financial
relationship with its chief financial partner, Bendigo Bank.
Since establishing an agency on Nauru in June 2015, Bendigo Bank
has become pivotal in the lives of all Nauruans who now can enjoy
the services of a banking institution for the first time in more
than a decade, thanks to the efforts of the Waqa Government.
The business relationship Nauru had with its former banking
partner was severed when the bank withdrew financial services to
not only Nauru, but nearly all of the Pacific small island
states.
It is noted this bank has also sold most of its South Pacific
banking operations to Bank South Pacific.
Unfortunately this has become the norm with a number of smaller
higher risk and low turnover nations worldwide as large banks chase
profits and abandon services to long established customers.
The reduction of banking services and banking/financial options
drives up the cost of business and cost of governing to the
detriment of each country's citizens either directly or through
reduced government services.
It has escalated into a global issue now recognised by
international organisations such as World Bank and IMF, with the
small nations at the mercy of multinational financial
institutions.
Nauru in conjunction with its Pacific nation friends will continue
to work with its global support families to reverse this
trend.
Nauru is a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering
(APG), which indicated in its report that Nauru faces low risks of
money laundering and terrorism financing, partly because the
Government has strengthened the Anti-Money Laundering and
Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) regulations over the past
decade.
As a new member, Nauru will work with the IMF, World Bank and
other international organisations such as OECD to continue to
strengthen the AML/CFTF regulations and improve transparency.