Jul 2015 Financial News

CIBC FirstCaribbean enters the Aruba market

Jul 09, 2015

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao – Having received its license to operate in Aruba earlier this year, CIBC FirstCaribbean recently took another step towards establishing a full-time presence in the Dutch Caribbean country, with the opening of a Representative Office in Oranjestad.

The official opening of the office was attended by Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Rik Parkhill, Managing Director for the Dutch Caribbean, Pim van der Burg, and several members of the bank’s staff in Curacao, from where the office will be managed.

The Representative Office is the first step, which will be followed by the opening of a modern full service branch in 2016, offering a wide range of services to Retail, Platinum, Wealth Management and Corporate Banking clients.

CIBC FirstCaribbean already has a presence in the Dutch Caribbean market through offices in Curacao and St. Maarten. The bank has had an interest in the Aruba market for some time, and has participated in large Corporate Banking transactions in that country. Recognising the potential of the Aruban market, therefore, CIBC FirstCaribbean decided that the time had come to take the next step by establishing a presence there.

Until the full scale branch is opened, CIBC FirstCaribbean employees from Curacao will travel to Aruba periodically for meetings with clients.

The official opening was attended by Angel Bermudez, Minister of Finance of Aruba, who welcomed the new banking presence to Aruba. To mark the occasion, as with all of its other territories, CIBC FirstCaribbean took the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to becoming involved in worthy causes in Aruba.

To this end, Parkhill and van der Burg used the occasion of the opening of the Aruba representative office to hand over a cheque in the amount of AWG 2500, to the Casa Cuna Progreso Foundation. The foundation runs an orphanage which houses children up to the age of six-years-old.

The donation cheque was received by Carlos Albertus, Vice President of the Board and the Director, Quilin Arends, pictured at left.

Source:
Barbados Advocate
Thursday July 9, 2015

http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=local&NewsID=44459