What's in a name?
Bank South Pacific currently operates in the Cook Islands,
Fiji, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu, alongside its historical home
base in Papua New Guinea.
But is an entry into New Zealand now on the cards?
The new BSP logo bears some resemblance to that of New
Zealand’s national airline.
It’s as if the brief was, “We want something similar to that
of Air New Zealand.”
In November 2023, the Prime Minister of Samoa, Fiamē Naomi
Mataʻafa, made a bold suggestion that BSP should consider opening branches in
Australia and New Zealand to 'service the Pacific diaspora', teasing the prospect
of future expansion of the bank.
See: https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/samoa/106571
So, the shift in BSP’s corporate identity may well be a hint
at an entry into the New Zealand banking sector and a further indication that
the bank has outgrown Papua New Guinea.
What’s in a name?
The name Bank South Pacific has always been something of a
misnomer in the context of PNG.
Papua New Guinea is located in the West Pacific, and most of
the nation’s population has more in common with South East Asia (SEA).
Papua New Guinea shares a border with SEA stalwart Indonesia.
The expatriate population in PNG (the ones making the big bucks) is now composed
of workers from India, the Philippines, China, and Malaysia.
See: https://smartshopper-png.blogspot.com/2024/06/diaspora-black-hole.html
Meanwhile, in the private sector, Aussie workers in PNG are
dwindling in number, and Australia (and New Zealand) companies are a dying
breed. The biggest development between Australia and Papua New Guinea in 50
years appears to be a football team in the Australian NRL!
Bank South East Asia
Many Papua New Guineans have rightly seen it as an insult to
have a dominant cultural symbol such as the kundu, as depicted in the original
BSP logo, unceremoniously ditched, with little to no consultation with the very
people who contributed to the bank’s early success.
Well, here’s a possible solution to that problem.
Bring back the kundu logo and change the name of the bank in
PNG to Bank South East Asia.
This creates a platform for the bank to grow and fly the PNG
flag throughout the more populous, relevant and growing region of South East
Asia.
Looking south has always provided Papua New Guinea with
better options and solutions than looking north. PNG now marches to the beat of
a different drum than it did fifty years ago.
Papua New Guinea is already part of APEC, and a renewed
focus on South East Asia may provide impetus for full entry into ASEAN, opening
further avenues for growth.
Indeed, a repurposed bank in Papua New Guinea would be a win
for customers in PNG and a win for the South East Asia region.
The parent bank would then be free to continue to pursue its South Pacific dreams.
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About the author
Glenn Armstrong has lived and worked in Papua New Guinea since 2001. He was Marketing Manager of Post-Courier (2001-2004); General Manager of EMTV (2004-2009), and then Executive Marketing Manager of Air Niugini (2009-2013). At Air Niugini, he also created the Destinations Loyalty Program. He was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for services to Papua New Guinea in 2012. Glenn has also authored three major books on Papua New Guinea: The Tonda (A Journey on the Bensbach River); 100 Treks Across the Kokoda Trail with Charlie Lynn; and 40 Years of Hargy Oil Palms. He has also produced several TV documentaries in PNG, including the Happy Gardener series with EMTV. Before coming to Papua New Guinea, Glenn was a publishing executive at Kerry Packer’s Australian Consolidated Press in Sydney for 14 years. He recently edited and published Ricky Mitio’s autobiography Ovu Ga’hoe!, due for release on May 8 2025. https://www.tlamediagroup.com
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