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Direct Deposit

5/19/2010 7:30:11 AM
In February 2006, the National Insurance Board (NIB) began the initiative to have all long-term benefit and assistance payments deposited directly into pensioners’ bank accounts. Apart from the efficiency gained as a result of the direct deposit, NIB considered the initiative to be a significant step forward in ensuring that the actual process of paying pensions and assistance payments was more humane and individualized, as well as confidential.

Since February 2006, NIB has had relatively good success with its push for direct deposits; however, there remain several hundred pensioners who still collect payments from pay stations for various reasons. To increase the conversion rate to 100%, i.e., to ensure that all payments are direct deposited, NIB earlier this year solicited the assistance of the Bank of The Bahamas (BOB), who quickly came on board with a process for opening bank accounts at our New Providence Local Offices, to facilitate the smooth deposit of NIB payments. Since February of this year, more than 100 pensioners have taken advantage of BOB’s in-house presence at NIB pay stations in New Providence to open the required bank accounts.

With the measure of success with direct deposits, NIB made the decision that April 2010 would be the last month in which pensioners in New Providence would be able to collect cheques in person. In March and April during pension payment times, the affected pensioners were notified in writing and by word of mouth of this decision. Going forward, pension payments to individuals in New Providence will be made through direct bank deposits only, and over the next few months, the same strategy will apply in all islands where this option is convenient to pensioners, and where NIB does not make cash payments due to the absence of a Financial Institution and/or Post Office.

It is acknowledged that this firm change in our policy may create a problem for some who may still be without bank accounts; therefore, on Tuesday, May 25, Bank of The Bahamas will again have officers at NIB’s Jumbey Village Local Office to facilitate the opening of accounts. Cheques will only be issued to persons bringing in their bank account information, opening bank accounts with BOB on that day, or in cases where it can be confirmed that opening a bank account is not possible.

NIB recognizes that the Bank of The Bahamas may not be the preferred bank of all of its pensioners. In this regard, while the convenient option for bank account opening will exist at our Head Office on the specified date(s), claimants are free to choose any other bank, including the Post Office Bank with convenient locations throughout the island, and to bring in the account details to facilitate the May payment via cheque and all future payments via direct deposit.


To open an account with BOB, bring along a copy of your passport or birth certificate, and your National Insurance card. If you do not have a passport or birth certificate, Bank officials will use your National Insurance seniors/pensioners card as identification.
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The National Insurance Board (NIB) wishes to address and correct “facts” advanced by the Nassau Institute in a letter to the Editor, published in the Nassau Guardian of Saturday, September 19, 2009, and referenced in a Tribune article on September 21, 2009. In that letter, the Nassau Institute incorrectly suggested that National Insurance is proposing an 84.1% increase in taxes
On September 2, 2009, Prime Minister the Right Honourable Hubert Ingraham, tabled in the House of Assembly the report of the 8th Actuarial Review of the National Insurance Fund, which was completed and formally presented to Government in 2008. The Report, which covers a review period from January 2002 to December 2006, gives a comprehensive assessment of the current and future finances of the National Insurance Fund, and reviews the state of the country’s primary social security system from a social standpoint, assessing the adequacy and relevance of the level of benefits now offered. The Review, like all others prior to it, makes recommendations designed to strengthen both the social and financial aspects of the Fund to ensure that National Insurance is able to meet its obligations well into the future. It takes a historical look at past trends and experiences as well as makes financial forecasts for the future. Demographic and financial projections up to 2066 have been presented.
A “business person in Fox Hill” suggested in a letter to the Editor (What’s Going on at NIB? – Tribune 23/09), that with the recent move of Inspectors from the National Insurance Board’s Fox Hill Local Office to its Jumbey Village Local Office in the Clifford Darling Complex, the Board’s operations in Fox Hill will close down. According to Greg Collie, Senior Manager for Compliance with responsibility for the Inspectorate, nothing could be further from the truth. He said the Fox Hill Local Office is not closing down.
Response to Tribune article
4/9/2009 12:00:00 AM
Derek Osborne, Consultant Actuary at the National Insurance Board is advising the public that though the 8th Actuarial Review of the National Insurance Fund, which includes long-term projections of the Fund and recommendations aimed at enhancing the Fund’s long-term sustainability as well as its ongoing relevance, has been completed, it has not yet been tabled in Parliament as is required by law.
Algernon Cargill, Director of the National Insurance Board (NIB) is responding to a Tribune article (March 12, 2009) that suggested that members of the business community are in a state of “enormous consternation” over the Board’s current and ongoing process of updating its contribution records. Though NIB has addressed this issue in the recent past, the NIB Director wishes to say once again that the Board is obligated by the National Insurance Act to ensure that all employers have paid the amount of contributions due for each employee for each month, and that contributions submitted are accurately posted or deposited to the accounts of the appropriate employees.
NIB Compliance Press Release
3/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
As was reported in the local media recently, the National Insurance Board (NIB) is increasing its review of the contribution accounts of delinquent employers and self-employed persons in order to ensure compliance with the National Insurance Act (the Act).