|
In a rather smug article published in The Times this week, Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg concluded that there was overwhelming support for the proposed entrenchment of abortion in the Constitution, because a scientifically held Xarabank survey had confirmed that the vast majority of the Maltese people were in favour of the amendment.
If Dr Borg is looking for arguments to bolster his campaign, he could have come up with a better example than this scraping-the-bottom-of-the barrel effort. Xarabank surveys, however scientific, are no substitute for the proper legal channels and mechanisms through which citizens express their opinion.
We hold referenda and elections to find out what people want and we don’t go around waving Xarabank surveys as ultimate proof of the electorate’s wishes. I wonder what the Deputy Prime Minister’s reaction would be if a Xarabank survey revealed overwhelming support for the repeal of our archaic rent laws, or the banning of hunting in spring, not pardoning convicted criminals, or for burying the golf course project. Would he hold up the results and call for immediate action, galvanising government departments to contact the band club of Bu Baqra’ and the Sliema Sock-Darning Society, to support his initiative? I think not.
Close to where I live, there is what Americans would call a “mom and pop” shop. It’s been run by a jolly married couple for as long as I can remember. They sell pastizzi and rolls, hearty English breakfasts and good no-frills budget meals for everyone in the vicinity and a number of British expats. The couple also provide the most efficient newspaper delivery service around (the dailies hit the mat well before seven in the morning), phone cards, tinned foods and lots of cheer.
It’s a small outfit, the regulars drop in for a chat and you can pay for your daily supply of peacakes and chocolate bars at the weekend. This system has worked well till quite recently when the proprietors were floored by a bounced cheque. A customer with a sweet tooth ran up a bill of some fifty liri and paid by cheque which was not honoured. After much cajoling, he replaced the first cheque with another which also bounced. When confronted with the dishonoured cheque he had the cheek to tell the shop-owners that his problem (that of awaiting payment from a creditor) was now their problem. He’d pay up when, and if, he was paid.
In fact the shop-owners did have a problem – one which is shared by many others and which is aggravated by the local banks’ inaction with regard to the matter of dishonoured cheques. According to a voluntary code of conduct adopted by Maltese banks last February, if a customer has three or more dishonoured cheques in a single calendar month, the banks will “initiate discussions” and “insist that they refrain from engaging in such a practice forthwith”. If this prim invitation to desist from “such a practice” doesn’t strike terror in the heart of the defaulter, the banks resort to laughably ineffectual methods to try and prevent their fraudster/clients from revelling in retail therapy and not paying for it.
The code of conduct goes on to warn that if customers continue and the number of dishonoured cheques exceed six in one calendar month, the banks may consider withdrawing cheque books and credit facilities or closing the account. Well, that’s mighty grand of the banks. Over a one-month period, you can issue five cheques when you don’t have a cent in your account, and all that happens is that you get a strict talking to from your bank manager and after a few mumblings of abject apology, you get away with a stern warning not to do it again. Pay the minimal Lm5 fine for every bounced cheque, then go out and repeat the process. No matter that each cheque might be for a thousand liri. You just have to make sure that you don’t exceed the six bounced cheques limit per month.
People who have dishonoured cheques dumped on them will not find much help from the banks – they will be told that confidentiality laws in Malta prohibit banks from supplying information about their customers. The banks exhort them to “carry out due diligence” on the people they accept cheques from. This is not always possible. Only Mafia mobsters carry thick wads of ready cash around with them. Everybody else finds it cumbersome and unsafe to wander around with batches of twenty liri notes in their pockets.
That’s why cheques have become an acceptable form of payment in every day life. It’s a payment method which is based on trust and good faith – both qualities which are sadly lacking these days. But the banks can’t just shrug off their responsibilities by insisting that we are careful who we do business with. We can’t all be logging in to credit rating society websites and checking out a customer’s credit history before accepting a Lm30 cheque.
The banks should roll up their code of conduct and the thousands of bounced cheques that are issued and turn them into a papier-mâché art installation at head office to inspire the drawing up of new bank regulations. They could start off by withdrawing credit facilities after a maximum of two cheques have been dishonoured in any one year and introducing cheque guarantee cards which ensure that they will pay the amount listed on the card. These measures will not eliminate cheque-fraud, but they’re a far sight better than the present state of affairs.
In 2003, the Malta Association of Credit Management organised a seminar regarding the problem of dishonoured cheques and called upon parliamentary secretary Edwin Vassallo to adopt draconian measures to stamp out the practice. Vassallo said that the banks had informed him that the percentage of dishonoured cheques was not high. Geoffrey D. Borg, the MACM president, remarked that if the rate of dishonoured cheques on nine million cheques drawn annually were a mere 0.1 per cent, this still meant 9,000 bounced cheques. I have no scientific Xarabank survey which shows how many people get away with this kind of fraud, but personal experience and anecdotal evidence indicates that there’s a very high incidence of it happening. My friendly shop-owner friends can’t be the only ones hoping things will change.
cl.bon@global.net.mt
|
