Dede Sophie

Up to 14,000 dormant accounts at Bank of South Pacific Financial Group Limited will be closed and funds remitted to the Department of Finance at the end of 2022. BSP Group Chief Executive Officer Robin Fleming told NBC News that most of these customer accounts have less than K20 and have not been charged account maintenance fees since. He said under Sections 6 (3) and 7(1)(a)(b)(i) of the Unclaimed Monies Act 1963, customer funds which remained unused for more than seven (7) years will be paid to the Finance Department, and therefore is encouraging customers concerned to approach the Bank and claim their monies or reactivate their accounts, among other options. “One of the main reasons we have such a large number of accounts that haven’t been activated is because we stopped charging a monthly maintenance fee on those accounts. And we stopped charging that monthly maintenance fees many years ago now.” “We actually have almost 6,000 accounts which have balances les...

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has announced that the Foreign Affairs Minister, the Honorable Justin Tkatchenko has stepped aside from his Ministerial portfolio with immediate effect.  This followed public uproar after a tiktok video from his daughter Savannah Tkatchenko was circulated widely on social media. The Minister’s defense of his daughter drew further harsh criticism from the public over the poor choice of words used to show his frustrations.  The Prime Minister announced that he will oversee the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the interim, and that includes making sure that the preparation towards hosting the Prime Minister of India, the President of the United States, the Prime Minister of Fiji, and all other Pacific Island leaders go ahead as planned.  “I want to commend the Minister for putting the interest of the country ahead of his own. I also want to apologise to his family, and especially his daughter Savannah for the traumatic experience over the last co...