Dear BP,
I am what you would call a career Royal Banker and I am disgusted by what is happening at the bank. This Bahamian leadership team takes delight in targeting and firing Bahamians, especially when it is for no reason.
Ever since this bald head Canadian got here maybe 2 years ago, he has systematically taken apart everything Bahamian Royal bankers built over decades of dedication.
BP, he is an awful man who only seems to care about his boat and playing golf. He is nothing more than a repackaged Tim Rider, and you know how he felt about us. I do not think he knew the Bahamas was a black country when he moved here, because this guy has a problem with our people.
He disrespects our professionals and looks down on them, he enjoys carte blanche because good old Ross, has given this fellow Canadian the green light to do whatever he wants just as long as he caters to the rich and the white.
What is sad about this situation is that they are using Bahamians do all the dirty work. I get that people like me do not matter when it comes to dealing with these Canadian banks, but we really need to check ourselves and do what is right for our people.
There is no integrity left, between the bald head, the commercial “Conchy Joe” and that Scotia gal they plucked from nowhere to run tings the bank is a shadow of what it used to be. There was a time when the Golden Lion was the unmatched leader in the Bahamas, there was not even a close second. Not anymore, not even close and perhaps never again if you leave it to this crew.
I had a colleague from the commercial banking side who was with the bank for more than 30 years and was fired (without cause). This lady has children, and this happened without any notice or willingness to try and accommodate her in another position in the bank, especially after 30 years of service.
It is interesting that the Bank’s Trinidad operations had the same situation but has found a way to accommodate all these types of situations by allowing the staff to find another assignment within the Bank. I guess Bahamians do not matter enough for the Bahamas leaders to fight for them.
Another person from the other side of the Bank is gone this week as well. From the rumors circulating in the bank, he was let go because he called out the management team for their failure to focus on the staff and push for more balance in the workplace. Gone, because he cared! BP, what we are we to do? If they do this to their own leaders what will happen to us junior people? Again, not allowed to take on another position in the bank like in Trinidad.
The bank just announced a restructuring of its leadership. While I celebrate the Bahamian being appointed head of the Cayman Market I wonder, why after decades in the hands of qualified, dedicated Bahamians I am hearing rumors that there may be a foreigner coming in to run FINCO.
How does that even fly? Has the Central Bank gone mad? Another fully qualified, capable Bahamian who has earned the right to move into the job may be overlooked and pushed aside, again – I mean it is a local finance company for God’s sake, like RBC’s credit union.
How many Bahamians have mortgages there because Greg Bethel and Alfred Stewart told us back then it was great decision for our future. My how things have changed. Well, who knows, maybe it is in the cards for a Bahamian to head up Trinidad? Maybe Kojak can make that happen, since he seems to reject everything the bank proclaims is important to them. So, why not surround yourself with your own people, who do not push back, ask questions, and seem to lack any ability to standup.
I am appealing to the Hon. Fred Mitchell to send bald head a message and scrutinize any request for a work permit from Royal Bank if it is true that a foreigner is coming to run a company that has been run by Bahamians, for Bahamians for decades.
BP, I have to ask why the Bahamas is constantly placed at risk when it is clear that Trinidad and other markets are not subjected to the same vicious treatment.
BP, I continue to be connected to friends and colleagues I left behind since I retired, but if anybody tell you the Bank values them, supports work/life balance or is willing to help in pinch, they are lies straight from the pit of hell!
There was a time when we were like that when Leroy and Harry worked with me out of RBC Main; but RBC has taken to screwing over everybody including the employees.
I have earned the right to say that. It is hard to see how this will get any better, when the Bahamians do not even want to fight to protect their own, when their regional counterparts are just holding court and creating soft landings everywhere for their people.
BP, is it possible that folks in Trinidad and Barbados just care more about their people? As Sir Lynden once said, “if you’re not prepared to fight for your country (countrymen) then you just don’t deserve it.”
Sincerely yours,
The Old Sad Lion
