OUTGOING Bank South Pacific Financial Group Ltd (BSP) chief executive officer Robin Fleming says what the banking sector needs is competition. “To increase taxes on the banking sector from 30 per cent to 44 per cent does nothing to incentivise anyone else to come into the country and open a new bank,” he said. “It possibly accelerates the desire of others to continue their exit and will be of no benefit whatsoever to the many Papua New Guineans. “For K240 million, I am sure that there are other alternatives rather than taxing the banks,” he added. Fleming, whose contract ends on Dec 30, told a media gathering that with the need for competition, tax increases on the sector would only hinder interest for other banks to come into the country.
“Fiji, for example, has a million people but it has six banks. Papua New Guinea, depending on which report you look at, has somewhere between 10 million and 17 million and you have only three and a half banks,” Fleming said. “That is not good for the economy. It is not good for the consumers and increasing taxes does nothing to improve competition. “From a BSP’s perspective, despite that tax, we continue to provide banking services to as many people as possible,”he said. “We will continue to improve our branch services despite having to pay the K230 million tax more than we otherwise should have as a result of that additional tax rate. “If there is one thing I am proud of after those 42 years of service is that a PNG-owned bank, with PNG shareholdings is the largest financial institution in the Pacific.” The National/PNGBusinessnews Next : PNG Government To Set Up New Bank Called National Banking Corporation Comments are closed.
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