London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 09, 2025

Six banks in BVI answer Premier's call to offer moratoriums to clients affected by COVID-19

Six banks in BVI answer Premier's call to offer moratoriums to clients affected by COVID-19

Six banks across the British Virgin Islands have agreed to offer their clients moratoriums for up to six months to assist in easing their financial worries during the COVID-19 crisis. The six BVI banks who have agreed to offer moratoriums include FirstBank, Banco Popular, National Bank of the Virgin Islands, VP Bank, Scotiabank, and CIBC First Caribbean International Bank.

These agreements came days after Premier Andrew Fahie had pleaded with banks in the territory to suspend payments owed by customers experiencing hardships because of the pandemic.

Those financial institutions all confirmed that they will be offering moratoriums on various products and services at a recent e-Forum held by Money Matters BVI last week.

Firstbank VI


Senior Vice President at FirstBank VI Angel Dawson commenced the session by firstly defining what a moratorium entailed.

“A moratorium indicates that through a process, there can actually be a delay with the payments for a loan, generally for a defined purpose,” Dawson said. “In this particular case, we know that many of our businesses and individual consumers are being affected by the global pandemic that we’re experiencing, through no fault of their own, they’ve been asked to either shut their business or not report to work,” he added.

Dawson also stated that FirstBank will offer moratoriums on all their lending products, and assured clients that the interest rates on their agreed loans will not be increased.

“We want to make it clear that we do not increase the interest rate during the period of the moratorium or ever for that matter. The interest rate is the rate that was approved and agreed to when the loan was closed initially,” Dawson stated.

National Bank VI


The National Bank of the Virgin Islands said they are pleased to be providing residents moratoriums for both their retail and commercial loans.

The bank said the moratoriums will be for customers who have been impacted financially by COVID-19 and will defer payments for up to three months in the first instance.

“On a request-only basis, during the three-month moratorium period, loan customers with fixed blended payments will be required to pay nothing. However, interest will continue to accumulate during this moratorium period and will be due in the future, subject to payment ability,” National Bank CEO Joy Penn explained

She added: “At the end of the moratorium period, your normal monthly payments would resume. A lump-sum payment will not be demanded upfront, as this would be deemed burdensome to most persons.”

Banco


Vice President and Commercial Credit and Relationship Manager at Banco Popular, Darren Vanterpool also said that his bank will be offering moratoriums across all their lending products, both on the personal and commercial space.

He said for mortgages, the moratorium being offered will be on both principal and interest rates for up to three months in the first instance, and for credit card owners, they will have to request for a moratorium.

Deferral and not forgiveness of debt

Vanterpool also clarified queries raised by clients as to whether the moratorium would be forgiveness of debt repayments or a deferral.

He said that it is not a forgiveness of the debt, but an accommodation to allow individuals or businesses to not have to make that debt obligation payment on a given month.

“The allowance is usually for when there’s a shortage in cash, whether it is a cash flow problem in the business or if there’s an income problem in the case of personal income,” Vanterpool stated.

“So yes the accommodation is sometimes very necessary because there are instances in which the payment just cannot be made, so the accommodation is to allow persons to put a financial plan into place so that when the agreed moratorium has expired, then they would be in a position to resume payments,” he further explained.

Scotiabank


Scotiabank, in the meantime, said they have created what they term a Customer Assistance Programme which will seek to give help to all their categories of customers.

“The mortgage moratorium that we are offering, customers are required to opt into the programme, in that it is not automatic. There is a waiver, an offer to waive principal and interest payment for up to three months in the first instance, with the option for going up to six months,” Branch Manager Marvin Scott stated.

He also said that depending on the maturity date of a loan, Scotiabank will amortize the accumulated interest accordingly.

CIBC


CIBC First Caribbean International Bank will be offering payment moratoriums for up to six months to all their retail and commercial clients.

CIBC’s Retail Manager Fabian Devonish explained that while some of the moratoriums will be automatic for some services, customers will have to request to enable the option on other services.

“Clients are given the option to opt into the payment waiver, it is not automatic. They can reach out to through our internet banking platform and request it, or they can reach out to their individual lenders or myself as branch Manager and advise us that they are interested in taking the payment moratorium,” Devonish stated.

“We’ve automatically marked forward our credit cards to a next due payment date of June 2020, and only if the client wants to make a payment do, they have to,” he added.

VP Bank


Meanwhile, VP Bank said they will be offering moratoriums to a certain extent where they are deferring the principal portion of the advertised payment that a client is expected to make.

“At this present moment, we are not taking a blanket approach to our clientele where we are offering moratorium to everyone. What we are doing is asking persons to communicate with us in order to proceed with the application process,” stated Client Advisor at VP Bank, Sasha Creque.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Brand-New $1 Million Yacht Sinks Just Fifteen Minutes After Maiden Launch in Turkey
Here’s What the FBI Seized in John Bolton Raid — and the Legal Risks He Faces
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
×