WILLEMSTAD - Although the Giro bank has been in the 'settlement' phase for some time, it still has more than 7,000 accounts. This was confirmed by the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS). By mid-February there were still 7,222 active accounts.
By way of comparison: on April 20 last year, when credits of up to 1.2 million guilders were paid out, there were still 34,585 accounts. There are now a lot less, but for a bank that is being phased out and then closed, more than 7,000 accounts is still a lot.
The CBCS says it cannot provide information about the total balance of these accounts. But the CBCS, which has overseen Giro Bank's management since the emergency regulation at the end of 2013 says that most open accounts have a very limited balance.
Despite various calls from Giro Bank to its account holders to close their accounts, there are still a significant number of account holders with money in their account. As a result, Giro incurs additional costs to keep those funds available to depositors.
All bank accounts without balance have now been closed.