Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — It has been three months since the Community Bank of American Samoa first expressed a strong desire to the Lemanu-Talauega Administration to purchase the Territorial Bank of American Samoa, however the Admin has made no official response, to date.

This was confirmed by the CBAS Interim Chair, Marshal Ashley in response to questions from Samoa News.

 “We have not received a response from the Governor yet,” said Ashley.

In a statement issued earlier this month, the CBAS confirmed a letter they sent to Gov Lemanu Peleti Mauga dated April 26, 2022, citing with the departure of ANZ for the first time in fifty years, American Samoa will have no FDIC-insured bank.

 “We strongly believe that American Samoa needs a privately-owned, federally-insured local bank to help develop our economy and serve the myriad needs of the Territory.

“Money kept in off-island accounts is loaned to off-island borrowers, while local residents and companies are unable to borrow money for their needs, thus stifling American Samoa’s economy and its tax revenues.

“The problem is not limited to offshore banks. Both ANZ and Bank of Hawaii had robust local presence, but both banks made corporate decisions to first stop serving the borrowing needs of the American Samoa community, and then to withdraw from the Territory altogether.

This week, Samoa News followed up via email asking what other action if any has been taken by CBAS following their statement. Ashley replied, “[they] have taken no further action.

However, the Interim Chairman hopes for “an open dialogue” with the governor.

The CBAS was initially formed more than ten years ago, with the hope that it could purchase Bank of Hawaii’s operations in American Samoa. But, BoH decided to close instead of selling, and the government decided to open its own bank, now known as the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS).

A government-owned bank is however ineligible for participation in the FDIC federal insurance program that protects bank account owners. For that reason, among others, government leaders have consistently stated their intention is to eventually privatize TBAS.

Now with the recent announcement by ANZ Bank that they intend to leave American Samoa later this year, the CBAS board of directors believes the time is right for TBAS to be privatized, so that the process of obtaining FDIC insurance can then be commenced, with a view to ultimately protecting local depositors and making loans to local borrowers.

Efforts were made to get comments from ASG via email to Acting Governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale on this matter, but to date there has been no reply.

Since the Samoa News report on the CBAS group’s interest in TBAS was first published last week there has been a flurry of comments both pro and con on the Samoa News website and Facebook Page.