While it is a highly risky operation, the American Samoa Government views the establishment of the Territorial Bank of American Samoa as a priority and is giving it serious attention.
Both the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the American Samoa Economic Development Authority (ASEDA) board said this to members of the House during a hearing conducted by the Commerce and Economic Development Committee.
Proceeds from the sale of the Series B bond are going towards financing the government bank, cover payouts for civil action settlements against the ASG and pay a
$75,000 upgrade for the government’s computer system.
Utu Abe Malae, who is the ASEDA Board’s lead person on the government bank project gave a detailed briefing to the committee regarding the TBAS.
The ASPA Executive Director has also been nominated by Governor Lolo Moliga as one of the 7 directors of the bank board.
Utu explained it’s been a year since the government started working with off-island consultants to draft policies and by laws for the government bank.
He said there are 39 milestones for the establishment of the bank that consultants have laid out for the local government to work on beginning from this month, March to May, 2017.
A key milestone is setting up a Board of Directors, a step already another way with the governor’s submission to the Fono 7 nominees for confirmations.
Confirmation hearings for all seven members of the TBAS Board will be held tomorrow in the House of Representatives.
The 27th step of the outlined milestones is the opening of the main branch of the bank in Utulei using the premises the Bank of Hawai’i will leave behind when they leave American Samoa.
Utu said having the Board of Directors for TBAS in place is critical to getting the bank operation up and running…the bank needs a board to manage the operaiton including staff.
The consultants for the bank project, according to Utu, are quite detailed and specific as they are well aware of the risks involved with an ASG bank.
There is only one other bank of this kind nationwide which the soon to be opened government bank is modeled after.
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