Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — With the House of Representative taking rumors that the ANZ Bank is preparing to leave the territory very seriously, one of the questions that was raised in the House Chamber last week is whether the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS) can handle all of the personal and business bank accounts if it becomes the only financial institution left in the territory.

Tuala-uta Faipule Larry Sanitoa told the House last week that based on his investigation, TBAS is handling about 12,000 accounts, while the ANZ Bank has over 20,000 accounts.

Sanitoa said that the Fono must take this issue very seriously and plans need to be set into place to solve issues that might come up before it’s too late.

The chair of the House Government Operation’s committee, Faipule Faimealelei Anthony Fu’e Allen echoed Sanitoa’s statement and called for a hearing to address the issue.

Faimealelei said he heard about this while he was off-island and as chair of the Government Operation’s committee, he’s not taking this issue lightly.

Despite the fact that there has been no public announcement by ANZ of its departure from the territory, Faimealelei believes that their duty as lawmakers and leaders is to address the issue and find a solution if necessary. He said that prevention is better than cure and a quick move is better than none.

Speaker of the House Savali Talavou Ale agreed with the recommendation by faipule, and called upon the Government Operation’s committee to set a good time to meet with TBAS representatives to discuss the matter at hand.

However, a hearing date has yet to be set.  

BACKGROUND

Two weeks ago, Sanitoa officially mentioned during a House Session that since December of last year there’s been talk about ANZ Bank leaving the territory.

According to Sanitoa, senior executives of ANZ Bank were in the territory last December and from what he’s learned, the bank plans to end its operations in American Samoa some time this year.

He said he talked with one of the directors of the bank who said they are now waiting for when that will happen.

The Tuala-uta lawmaker said ANZ is the only FDIC insured bank in the territory and it behooves the House to find out the government’s plans in the event the bank does leave the territory.

Sanitoa, a member of the Board of Directors of Legal Aid American Samoa says their annual federal grant of $300,000 must be deposited into an FDIC insured bank account, as one of the conditions of the grant.

He urged the House Commerce Committee to start making inquiries now about preparations by the Territorial Bank of American Samoa, for when ANZ departs.