“Geographic expansion and increased market share in existing markets is one of the main pillars of FirstCaribbean’s five-year strategy.”
FirstCaribbean’s business in Jamaica resurged significantly in the past year. The bank is making its presence felt and contributing to an overall strong performance, which achieved normalised net income after tax of $140.5m in its third year of operation. It has continued its brand refurbishment programme and completed its ATM upgrade. Net profits were up 22.6% in 2005, with a 17.3% increase in RoE, a reduction in cost/income ratio to 68.9% from 73.2%, and a drop in the NPL ratio from 1.0% to 0.4%.
“Our strong performance was achieved despite a 230 basis point fall in domestic interest rates during the year. We continue to be driven by our vision to be first for customers, first for shareholders, first for employees and first for the communities in which we operate,” says Mr Brady.
FirstCaribbean launched an international wealth management business and took steps to strengthen its corporate governance model, including the establishment of a local risk committee, with reporting lines directly to the group’s chief risk officer and board of directors. The bank injected $20m into the business this year to enable it to roll out its strategy effectively.
