Nov 2006 Financial News

Stock Exchange, SEC call in RBTT

Nov 30, 2006

RBTT group chairman Peter July and a non-executive director of the bank were summoned to a meeting at the Stock Exchange yesterday morning, to discuss recent movements in the company’s share price.

The executive chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ossie Nurse, the general manager of the SEC Terrence Clarke and the general manager of the TT Stock Exchange Hugh Edwards attended the meeting with the two RBTT directors, sources told the Guardian.

The meeting lasted for about 45 minutes.

During the meeting, concern was expressed about the untoward movement in the bank’s share price in the last two weeks, the sources said.

It was discussed that there had been no recent official information to justify the movement in the share price and it was agreed that RBTT would issue a public statement seeking to address this issue.

RBTT jumped $2.06 yesterday to close at $34.51.

Since it traded down by $1 to $24 on November 15, the RBTT stock has achieved a remarkable turnaround, jumping by 44 per cent or $10.51 in the only six trading days.

Market analysts said the escalation in the bank’s share price can be explained by the speculation that it was about to acquired by a Canadian bank.

Some analysts also pointed to the BG View column in the Business Guardian on November 16 which was headlined “Will RBTT remain locally owned?”

In the commentary, Guardian business editor Anthony Wilson quoted a senior RBTT official who said, “There is nothing going on at this time that would cause us to have to speak with any of our stakeholders.”

The official said that while there were “always meetings and discussions going on” about mergers and acquisitions, “within the last year, we have not had any due diligence exercises done on the bank.”

The Trinidad Guardian
Thursday, November 30, 2006.