Repayment arrangement for those without jobs

BANK South Pacific (BSP) group chief executive officer Robin Fleming says an arrangement for loan repayments is in place for those who have lost their jobs at the Porgera gold mine in Enga.
Fleming said though the arrangement would impact BSP’s loan portfolio, it was such that the debt would eventually be settled once the customers’ superannuation savings are released.
He told a radio talkback show yesterday that would be used to offset the outstanding customers’ debt with the bank.
“It’s most unfortunate for those individuals who have lost their jobs which is outside their control,” he said.
“Most of those redundancy payments went through either late last week or early this week.
“With the redundancy payments, we will ensure that their loan repayments are up to date if they were in arrears, catch up on any arrears, any payment which is due this month, we would also get that payment.
“We will then discuss with those customers.
“When the superannuation becomes available, there is the acknowledgement that those superannuation funds will be used to repay the balance of the debt which are owed to BSP.
“From the accounting perspective that will mean that some of our losses or certainly provisions associated provided to those individuals will increase over the next couple of months.
“If you (customers) want to make some additional payments, please feel free to do so.
“Once you get access to superannuation then, we are looking at them to meet their legal liability with BSP which was offered and provided in good faith by both parties.”