Apr 2016 Financial News

$630.4 m profit for First Citizens

Apr 15, 2016

First Citizens Group CEO Karen Darbasie was praised yesterday for steering the bank through the controversy surrounding its initial public offering (IPO).

The praises came from chairman Anthony Smart as Darbasie presided over her first annual general meeting since being appointed to the top post at the State owned financial institution. The meeting was held at the Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre.

Smart told shareholders Darbasie had fulfilled the board’s expectations completely.

“We as a family at First Citizens were in the news for all the wrong reasons. As it has become obvious, the bank settled down to functioning as an effective and successful financial institution away from the hot lights of media contention,” he said.

When Darbasie took up the post last year, First Citizens was still mired in controversy over then purchase and sale of 656,688 bank shares in its IPO by former chief risk officer Philip Rahaman. Rahaman purchased the shares from the employee bucket at the bankand they were later sold to his relatives and five companies from the Rahaman family-controlled Rahamut Group.

Commenting on the group’s financial performance, Smart said First Citizens had achieved profit after tax of $630.4 million. This represented 0.6 per cent growth year-on-year, he said.

Darbasie told shareholders the group’s total assets—including proceeds from the $2.7 billion National Gas Company (NGC) IPO—amounted to $37.5 billion at year end. She said there was significant growth in customer loans and the investments portfolios of 24 per cent and 15.8 per cent respectively.

“The asset management company has increased assets under management from $13.9 billion to $15.3 billion and it’s profit before tax from $95.8 million to $111.9 million,” she said.

Darbasie said the trustee company had focused on streamlining its operations and increasing its revenue generating capability with fee income increasing from $36.1 million to $39.8 million in 2015. First Citizens Investment Services contributed $131.1 million to the group’s profit before tax.

Source:
Nadaleen Singh
Trinidad Guardian
Friday April 15, 2016

http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2016-04-15/6304-m-profit-first-citizens