Fleming: Covid-19 affecting bank’s businesses

Bank South Pacific (BSP) chief executive officer Robin Fleming says all the BSP Finance business have been affected by the Covid-19 in the first six months.
Fleming said the most impacted was Fiji given its heavy dependence on tourism.
He said customers in towns such as Nadi were put on a six-month loan repayment holiday.
Between 45 and 50 per cent were now back on normal repayment terms after the six months.
“Fiji has been significantly affected not just in terms of the delinquencies and arrears but also in terms of growth,” he said.
“Customers in Nadi experienced somewhat more stress than other customer segments and certainly other countries.
“PNG has done relatively well given the circumstances notwithstanding that we had some exposure to the transport sector and the sub-sector in Porgera.
“The arrears rates in the circumstances have been reasonable.
“Sales have not been as strong as we would have hoped but that’s been a combination of a couple of factors.
“Cambodia has done reasonably well (with) its profitability close to budget..”
Fleming said in the Solomon Islands, while international travel had been stopped, there had been a reduction in logging activities in the country.
Logging has been a primary source of their gross domestic product growth.