AMID uncertainties over the future of the 20-year-old financial institution, Bank of Saipan’s main branch in Chalan Kanoa reopened yesterday as anxious depositors waited in long lines to withdraw their money.
Acting Commerce Secretary Fermin M. Atalig said Bank of Saipan’s Garapan branch will remain closed.
“The (receiver) has to make sure the bank can provide the same level of services in Garapan,” Atalig said.
Cindy Adams, the legal counsel of the receiver, Randall Fennell, said they have no plans to reopen the Garapan branch. Its reopening will depend on “future developments,” she said.
Rodney Jacob, legal counsel for the bank’s board of directors, said it is “disappointing” that the Garapan branch has ceased operation.
He said the board will “do what it can” to reopen the branch.
The bank’s Rota and Tinian branches will open Thursday, according to Atalig and Adams.
Thomas Schoen, the bank’s chief operating officer, said they have only “limited resources” that are not enough to open the bank’s other branches.
In a separate interview, Gov. Juan N. Babauta yesterday said the reopening of the bank shows how the “process works.”
Babauta said it should also reassure the public that there is already a “controlling mechanism” in the bank.
“The opening of the bank is all part of the court-approved procedures to provide depositors access to their money on a limited basis,” he told Variety.
Babauta said the administration will help restore the bank’s capital and investment, some of which were lost to fraud.
But all will still depend on the bank shareholders’ willingness to recover the lost capital, the governor said.
The government’s ultimate goal is to make the bank “solvent” again, he added.
“We want the bank to operate (normally) once again,” Babauta said.
Schoen, meanwhile, said the government’s nearly $16 million deposit in the bank remains frozen as part of the plan approved by the court.
Variety learned that no new accounts were opened at the bank yesterday. There were only three deposits.
Forty-five loan and Fiesta Card payments were made.
Seven old accounts from the bank were transferred to other banks, and the rest of the banking transactions were all withdrawals.
“There was a lot of withdrawals,” said a bank employee who declined to be identified.
Hundreds of bank clients waited as early as 8 a.m. yesterday in lines that stretched as far as 50 meters from the bank’s main door.
The bank was open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Malou Chinko, a depositor, said she felt “relieved” when the bank reopened yesterday. Chinko has no plans to transfer her savings.
“I am just hoping that the bank will return to its normal operation,” she told Variety.
Elenita Elameto said she was happy that she was able to withdraw a portion of her savings.
However, the vocational education teacher was not able to withdraw her time deposit.
She said she was told that the bank had to wait for a court order.
For Bing Tadeo, it was a “lesson learned.”
Tadeo said the management of Bank of Saipan failed to inform the public about its problems.
For almost a month, depositors were kept in the dark, she said.
She said they should have followed Hong Kong Shanghai Bank’s decision to inform the public in “advance” of its closure plan.
“But there was no notice—they just closed the bank,” she said.
At least 25 employees reported for yesterday’s re-opening. Only five did not show up.
The number of employees who reported for work, however, included the Garapan and Tinian staff.
Schoen said the teller stations were all manned and the bank had a “full staff.”
The bank has a total of 44 employees in all its branches.
Richard Salas, the electronic data processor manager of the bank, said there were no problems with the bank’s electronic machines. “We are working to re-establish the trust of the community. I am very happy that we reopened earlier than expected,” he added.
Edward Pinaula, another bank employee, expects that there will be more cash coming in.
