Apr 2015 Financial News

Karen takes charge at First Citizens

Apr 23, 2015

KAREN Darbasie’s engineering background, her “love of numbers” and her “inclusive leadership style” combined with her 21 years of experience in the financial services industry made her the ideal candidate for the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of First Citizens Group.

The fact that she became the first woman to do so was a secondary consideration, as Darbasie saw the opportunity to head one of Trinidad and Tobago’s premiere banking institutions as “the pinnacle of her career.”

Darbasie, who succeeded Larry Nath as CEO, previously held the post of Country Treasurer and Local Market Head of Citibank (Trinidad and Tobago) Limited and Managing Director of Citicorp Merchant Bank Limited.

She holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Electrical Engineering from the University of the West Indies (UWI), a Masters of Science with distinction in Telecommunications & Information Systems from the University of Essex and a Masters of Business Administration with distinction from the University of Warwick.

Business Day spoke with the forthright yet friendly Darbasie on day eight of her new job (April 15) about how she moved from studying electrical engineering to being a leader in TT’s financial sector, and her plans to take First Citizens forward.

BD: How did electrical engineering student end up running a bank?

Darbasie: My educational background was purely sciences but with a bias because I like math, I have a love of numbers, so when I was choosing a career initially, I decided that engineering was the field that I was going to pursue. I was on a government scholarship, so when I left UWI, I went into TELCO (now TSTT) to work off my scholarship and decided that I had a love of telecom. After a year, I left to go do my Masters in telecom and when I returned to TELCO, I realised that because of my educational background, I was very much science and technology oriented and decided that I wanted to do an MBA to give me a more broad-based education.

After doing my MBA, I moved into what I would call engineering sales and by then, TELCO had become TSTT. I got a call from Citibank, who at that time liked engineers with MBAs, and I said this was a good opportunity for me to really use some of the skills and some of the knowledge that I had gained in my MBA, to gain more broad-based financial experience to potentially go into general consultancy but found that I really loved banking. Really, really loved banking.

BD: What about banking appealed to you so much that you ended up shifting career goals?

Darbasie: My personality really gelled with banking, it gave me the combination of the client interface; the people skills side of it, as well as continuing to use numbers. Another great thing about banking, is that it gives you a real opportunity to help someone achieve their goals, whether it’s buying a home or expanding their business.

I started out as front office customer-facing, handling private sector customers, then Government, merchant banking, added treasury and trading products on to it.

BD: Are you planning to launch new investment products/services?

Darbasie: It’s a little too soon for me to say what’s coming. What I will emphasise is that the strength of our electronic banking platform is going to be one of the pillars of my strategy going forward. The First Citizens personal banking platform allows customers to make credit card payments to other banks, pay utility bills, transfer money to other institutions.

I want to build on the strength of that platform; it’s a phenomenal instrument that I think not just allows our clients access to their information on their phones and electronic devices but, it helps the bank as well in improving our own efficiency.

BD: How have you been adjusting to a new bank and getting acquainted with the products and services offered by First Citizens Group?

Darbasie: I’m still learning. Fortunately Caribbean people are always welcoming, so the team has been very welcoming, we’ve had very open and frank discussions and going through area by area.

I’m in the learning phase, where I’m understanding what we do, what has made us successful in the past, what plans each of my business heads have going forward.

Of course, because proper corporate governance is a key pillar of our operation, I’ve spent a good amount of time talking to the risk people, the compliance people, the legal people, the credit side, so I’m really focusing on not just the business aspect but on the risk and control aspect of the operations as well.

BD: What can you tell us about the lessons learnt following the bank’s IPO scandal and how they may actually help the bank going forward.

Darbasie: Even before I came onboard, the bank was involved in reviewing all of its governance policies and procedures to ensure that we hold ourselves to the highest standard and we maintain that standard of ethical behaviour for all of us in our personal dealings as well as in our dealings with our clients. That review continues to be a work in-progress and it’s in discussion with the members of the board as well.

BD: You broke the glass ceiling at First Citizens, becoming the first female CEO. Do you think about that at all or do you see the CEO position as another step in your career?

Darbasie: This is the highlight of my career, the pinnacle of what I’ve been working towards, so it’s a little bit of a combination of both. When I was approached and when I was interviewing, I didn’t really think about being the first woman as the CEO of First Citizens but having been successful and coming into the position, I do see it as really something that is unique and groundbreaking for the institution. I hope that other women see that it’s possible and can be motivated to really drive for achieving the best that they can for themselves.

BD: How would you describe your management style?

Darbasie: Each bank has its own culture but my management style has always been very inclusive. I like to approach any situation or any problem by getting the team members together to really listen to the different viewpoints because at the end of the day, each individual does have a particular area of expertise and responsibility, and their viewpoint will be aimed in that area. My job is to look at all of the viewpoints in totality and make a decision that’s best for the institution as a whole.

BD: Men don’t often get asked how they juggle work and family. Have you had to deal with this stereotype and how do you address these kinds of issues?

Darbasie: I don’t really see myself in any stereotype because to me, stereotyping yourself limits you and I don’t see myself as limited in any way, form or fashion. I’m very organised, both from a personal perspective and from a work perspective. It sounds very cliche but I use lists and I start my organisation in the night, so I start to think through my next day while ‘winding down’ before I go to bed and list out what I need to get down for the house, for the office, and I work through my lists so I don’t need to be double guessing what needs to get done.

I also have a very well-developed support infrastructure. A big advantage of being in Trinidad where I was born and raised, is that I have people that if something doesn’t quite work out the way I planned, I have people who I can call who will deal with stuff for me.

Source:
Sasha Harrinanan
Newsday
Thursday April 23, 2015

http://www.newsday.co.tt/businessday/0,210115.html