BSP committed to improving service to customers

BSP is 100% committed to improving the way we it serves its customers, according to group CEO Ian B Clyne.

He said BSP had been working extremely hard over the last four years to significantly improve its core technologies, systems, processes, and to significantly enhance the skills and capabilities of its staff.

BSP Premium staffer

He said BSP had achieved approximately 60‐70% of the total transformation project which commenced in 2008.

“Our achievement to date, are now clearly evidenced by the 'significant' improvements in banking access for each segment of our customer base," Clyne said.

He said BSP’s Retail Banking Business Unit, through its branch network and electronic platforms now provided the following service centres:

• ·         Rural customers: 42 BSP rural agencies will be opened in rural centres throughout PNG by year end;

• ·         Mass market: 41 branches, 275 ATM’s and 8,000 EFTPoS machines. This is also supported by significantly improved mobile phone and internet banking services;

• ·         High income customers: BSP Priority Banking Services (BSP Gold & Silver Visa Card holders) are now served by Premium Express Teller service, which is available in nearly all BSP branches nationwide; and
•   Very high Income customers: have access to BSP First Platinum Service. BSP currently has four state- of-art service centres now operating in Port Moresby (Ravalian Haus, Head Office, Gordon, and Vision City). BSP First customers may also access Premium Express tellers’ services in BSP branches throughout PNG.

“BSP also operates six Premium Banking centres in Port Moresby (Gordon, Head Office, Boroko, Waigani, Vision City, and Waterfront),” Clyne said.

“These service centres serve our corporate and paramount customers, and our retail BSP First and BSP Priority customers.

“These premium services are being expanded into Lae and Mt Hagen in the very near future.

“BSP First, BSP Premium Service Centres, and BSP Express Teller Services are staffed by BSP’s most experienced and best trained staff that provide quick, modern, efficient services in a safe, comfortable and convenient environment.

 “BSP First, and BSP’s Premium Banking Services are extremely important initiatives for BSP.

“ Historically we had a ‘one model fits all’ service model, now we have new service models that focus on improving banking service quality and availability to ‘all’ our customers throughout PNG.

 “It must be recognised that BSP First and BSP Premium Customers (retail, corporate and paramount customers) generate the majority of our revenue.

“ It is this revenue that now ‘subsidises’ BSP’s Rural Banking initiatives and electronic banking initiatives in remote rural locations nationwide.

"Quite simply BSP could not afford to roll out our BSP Rural program, and our enormous expansion of our electronic banking services (ATM”s and EFTPoS machines in shops all over PNG), if we were not generating the revenues we now earn from our high income and corporate customers.

“BSP’s service levels are still not perfect; however, we are trying extremely hard to improve very aspect of our business, including taking banking services to rural communities in a very meaningful way.

“To give you an example of our achievements, BSP has opened approximately 250,000 new retail Kundu accounts this year, that is more retail accounts than the combined retail customers of our foreign competitors.

“Before the end of this year, BSP will pass the 1 million active retail accounts milestone.

“This is more than a 100% increase in the number of retail accounts since BSP started out its ‘transformation project’.

“We want all Papua New Guineans to be able to have access to a BSP Kundu account, and we want them to be able to access their savings at BSP EFTPoS machines which are as close as possible to where they live.

“Safe, secure, convenient and cost effective banking available to everyone:  That’s what BSP is committed to, and what we are well on the way to achieving.

"BSP is truly transforming the banking system in PNG and the Pacific.”

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BSP improves its credit rating in 2012

The chairman of the BSP Group, Kostas Constantinou, has announced that Standard & Poors (S&P) has improved its assessment of BSP.

S&P, in its report released on November 1, 2012, indicated that it had revised its long-term issuer credit rating outlook for Bank of South Pacific Ltd from negative to stable.

At the same time, it affirmed its 'B+' long-term and "B" short term ratings outlook on the bank

The upgraded BSP assessment follows a review of PNG’s sovereign rating.

 Following the general elections and the formation of a new government in August, S&P has noted an "improved political setting".

Constantinou said that BSP Group was encouraged by this positive re-assessment of the group’s credit rating.         

 “BSP is committed to maintaining its enhanced credit profile, and its strong business position in PNG and across the Pacific region,” he said.

Mystery illness hits villages on PNG-Ausralia border

By Stefan Armbruster

Fly River women (Samson Jubi)

Women have reportedly died from what's described as "abnormal bleeding" in villages on the Fly River in PNG, just across the border with Australia.
A number of women have reportedly died from what's being described as "abnormal bleeding" in villages on the Fly River in Papua New Guinea, just across the international border from Australia.
PNG's Health Minister and other MPs from the region have raised concerns over it.
They're pointing at pollution from BHP's former Ok Tedi gold and copper mine as a possible culprit.
The Ok Tedi Development Foundation has issued a statement saying it is aware of the issue and is taking steps to address it, without confirming the mine is the cause.
After a high-profile environment movement campaign in the 1990s, BHP reached an out-of-court compensation deal with Fly River villagers for polluting the Fly and also secured legal indemnity from further damages.
Community worker Nareme Makai from the Manawete Trust told Stefan Armbruster the villagers need urgent medical help.

PNG cabinet approves InterOil's Gulf LNG project

InterOil

 InterOil Corporation is pleased to have been notified by the Prime Minister Peter O'Neill that the National Executive Council (NEC) of Papua New Guinea has approved InterOil's LNG development project in the Gulf Province. The decision clears the way to proceed with our plans for an LNG plant in the Gulf Province with initial output of a minimum of 3.8 million tonnes per annum. 

As the Prime Minister has announced, the decision also approves the acquisition by the State of an additional 27.5% equity interest in the Elk/Antelope gas fields, over and above the 22.5% interest to which it is entitled under the Oil & Gas Act, on terms to be negotiated with InterOil.

InterOil understands that the State intends to take its entitlement to gas from the project in kind, to be used in part in domestic power generation and natural gas related industries thereby providing a boost to PNG's growth and prosperity. InterOil is pleased to be able to provide this opportunity to the State, and is the first developer of a major oil & gas project to do so. 

As the Prime Minister has announced, the NEC has approved the establishment of a State negotiating team to discuss and agree to the necessary amendments to the 2009 project agreement between the State and Liquid Niugini Gas Limited, to give effect to the NEC decision, and to agree on the terms on which the State will acquire the additional equity interest. 

The NEC decision confirms that the basis of the acquisition will be commercial market terms. The NEC also includes as a condition of its approval an agreement with regard to an internationally recognized operator of the facilities.

 InterOil is ready to participate in these discussions, which it expects will commence shortly.
Given the importance of the LNG project, the PNG Cabinet also approved the establishment of the Ministerial Gas Committee comprised of key economic ministers to fast track commercialization of the county's second LNG project.

Now that the Government's position has been clarified, InterOil anticipates being able to conclude an agreement for a sale of an interest in the Elk and Antelope resource in Petroleum Retention Licence 15 and the first 3.8 million tonnes per annum Gulf LNG Train to a partner or partners in the coming weeks. Major oil companies, national oil companies, and Asian utilities have been actively engaged in the process.

InterOil wishes to record its appreciation for the support of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Petroleum and Energy, and Government departments in reaching this landmark stage in the LNG project approval process. 

We look forward to bringing this LNG project on-line, for the long-term benefit of Papua New Guinea, InterOil, and all project stakeholders.

The unknown ocean world

by The Canadian Press 

The vast world that exists beneath the surface of the ocean remains largely unknown to humankind, say experts working on an international database of marine species.
Of an estimated one million species that make their home in the depths of the sea, as many as two-thirds of them are still a mystery, says a study published this week.

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

This photo shows Lopha cristagalli, an oyster, covered by Monanchora sponge (a red sponge typical for oysters), in Papua New Guinea. THE CANADIAN RESS/ho-WoRMS Photo Gallery-Gustav Paulay, 2010

Canada has more coastline than any other nation on Earth, a staggering 200,000 kilometres plus, and the nation's territorial waters cover more than seven million square kilometres over three different oceans.
The country is a world leader in marine research but even here, the sea still holds many surprises, says Gerhard Pohle, acting executive director of the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews, N.B.
"There are an amazing amount of things, especially in the ocean, that we don't know in terms of biodiversity," says Pohle, who spent a decade taking part in an international Census of Marine Life, a decade-long project than concluded in 2010.
It was only last year that scientists published research that estimated there are approximately 10 million distinct species on Earth, Pohle said.
"It's staggering to think that as recently as 2011, we did not know how many species there are in the world by order of magnitude. The estimates were anywhere from three to 100 million species globally. That was it," Pohle says.
"I'm somebody who works on this and when I saw it, I couldn't believe it."
The article published in the academic journal Current Biology this week estimates there are one million marine species.
A World Register of Marine Species has catalogued 226,000 of them so far. As many as 72,000 more specimens have been collected and are waiting to be described.
"Knowing what lives in the ocean is fundamental to appreciate, care and protect it," said Ward Appeltans, one of the authors and the project manager of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
"Having a single catalogue of all known marine species is like an index in a library. We can all start using the same species names, avoid confusion over names and make less mistakes."

New Britain Palm Oil 9-month sales down

NASDAQ

(RTTNews.com) - New Britain Palm Oil Limited (NBPO.L), a Papua New Guinea-based producer of palm oil, Friday reported lower sales for the first nine months of the year, owing to weather impacts compounded by flagging crude palm oil or CPO and palm kernel oil or PKO prices. 

For nine months, the group posted net sales of US$528 million compared with US$593.7 million for the year-before period. 

The company produced 388,187 tonnes of CPO, down 7.9% from 421,715 tonnes for the same period last year, on the back of lower fresh fruit bunches or FFB production and lower extraction rates. 

 Production of PKO too dipped 10.6% to 27,179 tonnes from 30,410 tonnes for the prior-year period.

Average CPO price per tonne for the period stood at US$1,098, down from US$1,115 year-over-year. 

Average PKO price per tonne totaled US $1,393 versus US$1,830 a year ago.

The palm oil producer said local currency has appreciated nearly 16 % year-on-year against the US dollar, leading to a rise in labor and overhead costs, directly affecting the profitability for the period. 

Falling prices due to overhang of palm oil stock and weather issues further exacerbated the problem.

Looking forward, the company said freight and fertilizer costs are expected to go down in 2013 and that it has reorganised its management structure to better cope with the peak cropping period in the first half of 2013.

Currently, the stock is trading down 2.8% at 486.00 pence on the LSE.

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