ING to open branches on Saba and St. Eustatius at the end of this month

Residents of Saba and St. Eustatius will soon be able to bank with a Dutch bank again. ING will open an office on St. Eustatius on 24 November, followed two days later by a branch on Saba.

With the new branches, residents of the Caribbean Netherlands can open an account with a Dutch bank for the first time in years. A year and a half ago, ING announced plans to return to the islands, promising “the same service as on Texel.”

Getting there took a lot of preparation. The islands are special municipalities of the Netherlands, but they fall outside the European Economic Area, and people make payments in US dollars. That makes it legally complicated for a Dutch bank to offer accounts and cash services.

Absent from the islands

Partly for this reason, ING withdrew from the Netherlands Caribbean Bank in 2009. ABN Amro still offers internet banking, but no longer accepts new customers from the islands, and Rabobank only does so if someone has a “clear economic link” with the Netherlands. Residents wanting a bank account have had to turn to foreign banks, which is also cumbersome.

ING now says it has met all legal and regulatory requirements to resume services on the islands.

To start with, residents and entrepreneurs on both islands can open a current account, apply for a debit card and bank digitally. Online and telephone customer service will run through ING’s regular channels. Cash will be available from new ATMs installed by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).

ING calls the two offices a “first step in the further development of services on the islands.” The bank says it hopes the branches will contribute to the islands’ economic development.

NOS