ECAB Faces Customer Frustration Two Years After Scotiabank Acquisition

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Two years after Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank (ECAB) acquired Scotiabank’s Antigua and Barbuda operations, customers are increasingly unhappy.

The integration process has been problematic, with issues like transaction delays, out-of-service ATMs, and poor customer service.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne called for improvements in service quality and Anti-Money Laundering controls.

While some view these problems as “teething pains” after the acquisition, patience is wearing thin among customers who rely on the bank for daily needs.

ECAB faces challenges in restoring confidence and delivering the expected service quality.

Efforts to contact ECAB’s manager for comment on the sustained complaints have been unsuccessful to date.

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17 COMMENTS

  2. In all my life, never before have I seen or heard this level of disgust against members of the banking fraternity. Customer frustrations has been echoed and heard for quite sometime and seemingly very little is being done in order to get at the root of the problem and come up with workable and sustainable solutions. Customers have been crying out for far too long now. HELP!

  3. I agree the system is trash now, we get paid low and still have to train scotia workers. I hate it here and only stay because there is nothing in Antigua to do. I should have never taken a government scholarship to study at uwi to come back here and suffer. I hate it here. All my coworkers think we are doing so well but only if they know their worth. #frustrated employee.

    • Clearly, ECAB is not only failing it’s external customers, but it’s internal customers as well!

      By training of Scotiabank staff, my dear Sir or Madam, I sincerely do believe that you meant training on ECAB’s platform; because I daresay “SCOTIABANK STAFF COULD RUN CIRCLES AROUND ECAB STAFF PROFESSIONALLY AND COURTEOUSLY, ON ANY GIVEN DAY! ✌🏾

      Be that as it may, this lack of training prior to the integration is a huge red flag 🚩.
      A major failure on the part of ECAB’s Management!
      Did ECAB have a PROPERLY DETAILED WRITTEN PLAN in place to execute this thing?
      With a DETAILED TIME LINE – right down to integration and post-integration?
      Who were the Change Agents in charge of the process of execution?
      Obviously, somebody dropped the ball! Didn’t any ‘heads roll’ for this debacle?

      Training should have been done wholesale BEFORE the switch over. Intense training should have been taking place before signage was changed and such like, especially since the platforms were so different. ECAB should have had a DEDICATED TRAINING TEAM, providing training to SCOTIABANK employees, firstly to critical team members according to their functions – this would have included Tellers, Customer Service Representatives, Data Entry Clerks. Then to others with not so critical functions. And I don’t mean a couple of days, or one off thing – this should have been regularly, several hours each time, for weeks/months.
      This training should NOT be ongoing now with regular staff, while also trying to function – naturally everything will be slower this way.
      Of course, there will be some day-to-day pointers and reminders for functions which are not routinely done every day, but not on the level of exasperation that the tone of this employee suggests.

      BUT I SUPPOSE NOBODY FELT THAT IT WAS WORTH THE INVESTMENT TO PROPERLY PLAN AND EXECUTE THE REQUISITE TRAINING OF STAFF, TO ENSURE A SMOOTH INTEGRATION/TRANSITION!

      Really, very sad!

  5. 6 months pay check as a opposition representative…wht shoogy did with the 6 months money….buy protein powder 💪…🤔🤔🤔🤔

    St. Kitts music festival, playing mas during Carnival and Niagara Falls
    Insane carnival

    want to collect Parliament paycheck so he can pay for fete and immoral behaviour. rum & coke. Preacherman know prodigal son need to return to The Father.

    shoogy is shame and disgrace to himself, the people and humanity!

  6. ACB no better- their systems do not work efficiently, and their customer service is only for the uppities.

  7. I recall trying to open up an account with ECAB last year, and after queuing for what seemed like an eternity, I informed the bank employee what I wanted to do. She then gave me a telephone number to book some sort of appointment to open the bank account.

    What a long-winded palaver and a waste of my precious time; suffice to say ECAB didn’t get any of my business. Tarl!

  9. Right now, banking on a whole in Antigua & Barbuda, is at an ALL TIME LOW!
    Part of the reason is a severe lack of competition – all these mergers and acquisitions have basically left us with 4 commercial banks – ACB, ECAB, CUB, CIBC-FCIB… I remember the days when we had 9 commercial banks (I won’t go back further else I’ll date myself 🫢) in the nation (Barclay’s, Scotiabank, ACB, Swiss American, RBTT, Royal, Bank of Antigua, ABIB, CIBC), practically within a stone’s throw from each other; customers had plenty of options and this was the main driver in the quality and level of service which was delivered.

    As a former banker, when banking was in it’s heyday, I remember being drilled in Customer Service training – smile before you answer the phone because it would be reflected in your tone; answer the telephone on the second ring, and if the phone rang at a desk while the staff member was away, someone else HAD to pull the call; tellers barely sat down, and definitely not at peak times when the lines were long – such as Fridays after lunch or those days at month’s end; a customer would not be in the bank for more than 5 minutes without having their presence acknowledged at the very least, or someone attending and assessing their need, then directing him/her accordingly; I could go on, but I think these comments have word limits.
    Suffice it to say, these kinds of attention to detail, these small things which suggest empathy and also indicate appreciation, NO LONGER SEEM TO MATTER TO BANK STAFF AND MANAGEMENT.

    I know that all these hullabaloo about Anti-Money Laundering regulations, and the hoops which the larger countries have us jumping through (which their banks don’t), just to be able to maintain Correspondent Banking relationships, the threats of being on all colour lists, etc., etc., have made it so much more cumbersome to do business with banks.

    But at the heart of the matter, these banks – AND YES, I AM LUMPING THEM ALL IN THE SAME BASKET – simply appear NOT TO CARE! They have become so HYPER-FOCUSED ON THEIR BOTTOM LINES, they are have lost sight of their main ASSETS – the CUSTOMER; that meeting and even exceeding customer needs, is apparently a thing of the past! It is all about increasing profits and cutting costs. Yes, companies go into business to make a profit, but the old addage is still true – “TAKE CARE OF THE PENNIES AND THE POUNDS WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES!” Tend to the little things, and they will grow into big things – sounds simple enough.

    In my opinion, ECAB’s Management CATEGORICALLY BUNDLED THIS INTEGRATION PROCESS. It seems they learned absolutely NOTHING from the ABIB acquisition and integration not too long ago… THIS WAS NOT THEIR FIRST DANCE! Granted Scotiabank may have been a larger entity, but the lessons learned could have been applied and mistakes avoided. I don’t recall this MESSY SPECTACLE when Swiss American & ABIB merged, neither with Royal Bank & RBTT, and certainly not with Barclay’s & CIBC, nor the recently concluded ACB & Royal.

    It appears that ECAB’s Management does not believe it is important enough to focus on fixing the issues, or even addressing others which appear to still be up in the air. They are still silent on this ill-treatment of customers. Instead of trying to figure out how to get the problem solved, and addressing customer’s frustrations, they are choosing to remain quiet. Meanwhile, the end of the 3rd quarter is nigh, and it’ll be year end in another 3.5 months – one whole year of this COLOSSAL MESSPOT!

    Mr. Prime Minister, as Minister of Finance, this matter rests squarely on your shoulders – firstly to secure assurances for the public, and secondly because it was at your insistence that a local bank be able to acquire the business of Scotiabank in Antigua & Barbuda (a position with which I wholeheartedly agreed and supported 100%).
    See to it that ECAB fixes this mess! It stinks to high heavens man!
    Insist that they get it fixed in this fiscal year!
    After all, integration was since January!
    It is past time to be pussy-footing around the matter!

  11. None of the banks in Antigua care about customers. I recently went to the bank and asked for 2 month bank statements. I have not received them in my mail. They told me that I had to pay for the two paper print out . I said no problem, thinking it was like a 5 dollars. Next thing I got back 40.00 dollars from a 100.00 dollars bill. I was shocked In Disbelief. I drove off so much in shock that I said nothing. I am one to have gave them back their papers and make a stink for my money back. This one really caught me completely off guard.

  13. Nothing new here. We have been complaining about the banking service since Covid now for months. First the excuse not to let people into the bank was Covid. After the pandemic has been declared over, they keep their customers outside of the banks. People must stand outside in long lines in the hot sun. Management is aware of the outcry, but guess what this is a new bank policy to force people to use only on-line and mobile banking services. But apart from that, their services are pathetic. As Brix said he wanted to open an account and was told to call a number and make an appointment. Appointed are so full that the next appointment is more than three months away. The staff is not hospitable at all. And it doesn’t seem whether the bank cares if you stay with them or not. On his lats visit the Governor of the Central Bank got an ear full of bad customer service from the banks. And at a lunch meeting he did not hold back in reprimanding them. He promised to put some sort of ombudsman in place where people can file complaints. But what the heck, what can he do? Even the Prime Minister has called the bankers to Cabinet and requested that they improve on their customer service. But again, it doesn’t seem to help at all. So tell me. What will happen if these bankers do not listen to either the Governor of the Central Bank Governor or the Prime Minister? Should we have a run on the banks and keep our money at home? I have no suggestion to this blatant disregard for plain and simple reasonable acceptable customer service. I only wonder what the bank’s goals are, and I hope that they can be called to account for in a public setting. Be it a public inquiry or something of that kind of investigation.

  14. The entire service industry is in perils, not just the banks in Antigua, but every other government agency and private services on the island. From the airport to the smallest of restaurants around the place, just terrible service..not even the gas station attendants smile.

    Hire the right people in the right positions and get rid of this rabid nepotism, and things might change, but it seems every family just wants to setup themselves and their family legacy, so they keep hiring their cousins and friends who really can’t do those managing jobs nor do they have the passion for for helping people and customer service.

    But hey, that’s Antigua for you right now.

  15. Chairman WALTER is a COLOSSAL FAILURE!!!! Time for the clown to go!!!!! RESIGN FORTHWITH. ECAB shitty “service” stain his name.

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