Dec 2006 Financial News

FirstCaribbean wins more industry awards

Dec 29, 2006

FIRSTCARIBBEAN International Bank has received Bracken Awards from The Banker magazine for its achievements in the financial services sector, its fourth and fifth Awards for the year. The bank has been named Best Bank in two of its major markets  Jamaica and The Bahamas. The Banker is a publication of the Financial Times.

The Bracken award is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker and the Chairman of the modern day Financial Time from 1945 to 1958. Banks are judged on their financial performance, initiatives in the market for the year, and return to their shareholders.

In congratulating the two business units on their achievements, CEO Charles Pink was full of praise for the hard work put into and outstanding years performance in both countries. This award is very well deserved. Sharon Brown and her team in The Bahamas have performed magnificently since FirstCaribbean was formed in 2002, and they continue to deliver results of which we are very proud. Our performance there in our last fiscal has been our strongest to date.

Im also delighted for Milton Brady and the whole Jamaica team. This award is fully earned. Weve invested a lot in the Jamaica market in the past year, and they have stepped up to the plate to deliver fantastic results. I am extremely proud of them.

Sharon Brown, Managing Director FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) Limited, noted: This achievement would not have been possible without our people. We have a first-class team in The Bahamas. Weve taken our groups vision of becoming the bank of first choice in the region seriously, and together we have stepped up our game to deliver in both sales and customer service. Were also grateful to our customers, who are making us their bank of choice and allowing us to be their financial partner. We will be continuing our strategy of improving our financial performance through expansion and enhancement to our product and service offerings and customer service improvements.

In adding his comments, a satisfied Managing Director for Jamaica, Milton Brady, said: This is extremely good news for my team here in Jamaica. While this award is for our performance in the 2005 fiscal year, we have not rested on our laurels. In [the] 2006 fiscal year, we have grown our loan portfolio by 75 per cent and increase our core earnings by 98 per cent. And were also number one in customer service in Jamaica, a significant achievement by our team in such a short time. FirstCaribbean is making its mark on the Jamaica market and we have every intention of continuing that trend into the future!

Already for the year, FirstCaribbean has been named Best Emerging Market Bank by Global Finance magazine of New York, an honour which it also captured in 2004 and 2005. Also in 2006, for the first time in its 37-year history, Euromoney Magazine conferred its Best Bank Award of Excellence on a Pan-Caribbean bank, ranking FirstCaribbean among the most outstanding financial institutions in the Americas. FirstCaribbean has also been selected as the LatinFinance Bank of the Year 2006 for the region. Latin Finance is based on The United States.

In commenting on the recent honours by his company, CEO Charles Pink concluded: Its one thing to be recognised by your peers as a force to be reckoned with in financial services in the region, but its quite another to receive independent recognition by such prestigious institutions in the world of banking and finance. When we created FirstCaribbean we knew we were seeing the birth of something special. Our recent achievements are only the beginning and our team across the region is proving that our vision of being the Bank of First choice for the region is spot on!

FirstCaribbean has been ranked #445 among the worlds financial institutions.


Source:
The Barbados Advocate
Friday 29th December, 2006

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