Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In a letter dated June 7, 2023, Governor Lemanu P. S. Mauga called on the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS) Board of Directors and the Office of Financial Institutions to take action to address the failure of leadership at TBAS that caused the bank to be unable to timely file its audited Financial and Profit and Loss Statement as required under local law.

This failure affects far more than TBAS and its obligations under the law, according to the governor’s statement. As the bank is owned by the American Samoa Government, the lack of an audited financial statement from TBAS impacts ASG’s government-wide audit, its obligations to bond investors, and potentially the American Samoa credit rating.

According to the American Samoa Code Annotated, it is the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer of TBAS to effectively and efficiently manage the bank. Failure to meet the requirements of the law and failure to understand or be concerned for the potential impact on ASG is neither effective nor efficient management.

As such, Gov Lemanu issued a letter to TBAS calling for the removal and replacement of TBAS CEO David Buehler. Because of the potential effects of this failure on ASG, the governor also requested that Office of Financial Institutions  (OFI) file a complaint for suspension or removal on the CEO pursuant to A.S.C.A. § 28.1204.

“The people of American Samoa deserve effective and efficient management of the people’s bank,” Lemanu said, adding, “Accountability for failures such as these is one way to assure customers and investors that ASG is doing its part to promote effective and efficient management.”

Click to read the Samoa News Just Asking report on this same issue first published in the June 23, 2023 issue.