IN an article captioned “Commercial banks grouping introduces guiding Code of Practice” in the March 31, 2010 edition of the Guyana Chronicle, Guyana’s Finance Minister is quoted as saying “This is an example of a sector working in unison to promote better practices. The voluntary initiative taken by the Guyana Association of Bankers has a number of potential benefits to be developed”. The introduction of the Code of Practice is encouraging news indeed. However, it appears that the Honourable Minister needs to take a close look at the matter outlined below.

Many Guyanese receive remittances from relatives in Canada. As well, many Guyanese living in Canada return to Guyana as visitors and support the tourism industry. It seems that currently the banking community in Guyana is shortchanging individuals who convert Canadian dollars into Guyanese currency.

According to a table, captioned “Exchange Rates” in the Guyana Chronicle of April 1, 2010 (likely based on data of March 31, 2010), the buying rate for $ 1.00 (Canadian) is shown as $ 163.84 (Guyana) while the comparable rate for $ 1.00 (US) is shown as $ 204.23 (Guyana). Yet, internationally the Canadian dollar has been trading at near par with the US dollar for the past several weeks. For example, on March 31, 2010, the trading for $ 1.00 (Canadian) was $ 0.98 (US).

In its simplest form, this means that a Canadian visitor who converted $ 100.00 (Canadian) on March 31 at a bank in Guyana would have received $ 16, 384.00. On the other hand, if the person had taken the equivalent in US funds, i.e. $ 98.00 (US), he/she would have received $ 20,014.54 or $ 3, 630.54 more.

If those posted rates are accurate, I believe that the Guyana Association of Bankers should take action to correct this inequity.