Mar 2015 Financial News

First Citizens picks new CEO

Mar 03, 2015

Karen Darbasie, country treasurer at Citibank (T&T) Ltd, is set to take up the position of CEO at First Citizens, filling a post that has been vacant since the sudden resignation of Larry Nath last December. 

Darbasie was at one time managing director at Citibank (T&T) and was responsible for managing the asset and liability positions of the bank in Trinidad, Barbados and Bahamas, as well as managing FX trading positions and securities distribution in the three countries. Prior to that, she was the Capital Markets Head at Citicorp Merchant Bank and the Relationship Manager for the Government and Public Sector at Citibank (T&T).

Darbasie received her BSc (Hons) in Electrical Engineering in 1985 from the University of the West Indies; an MSc (Dist) in Telecommunications and Information Systems in 1987 from the University of Essex; and an MBA (Dist) in 1991 from the University of Warwick. Since Nath’s resignation, First Citizens’ chairman Anthony Smart had been functioning as executive chairman advised by retired Citibank executive Steve Bideshi.

Darbasie’s appointment, which has not yet been officially announced by the bank, follows the appointment in January of Jason Julien, former general manager of First Citizens Investment Services (FCIS), as deputy chief executive of bank operations. In the position of CEO, Darbasie will be stepping into leadership of a bank that is still recovering from the controversy that erupted just months after its historic initial public offering in 2013. Valued at $1.1 billion, it was the largest single IPO in the history of the T&T Stock Exchange. 

However, within months the IPO came under scrutiny after it was discovered that Phillip Rahaman, the bank’s former chief risk officer, had purchased 659,588 shares and within four months had sold 634,588 of those shares. Rahaman was subsequently fired and the controversy claimed other casualties, including then chairman Nyree Alfonso and several members of the board of directors. The IPO controversy is still being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). There is no word yet on when Darbasie will take up duties.

Source:
Trinidad Guardian
Tuesday March 3, 2015

http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2015-03-03/first-citizens-picks-new-ceo