Mar 2008 Financial News

NCB revises structure - Insurance arm now under wealth unit - Int'l business part of retail banking

Mar 19, 2008

National Commercial Bank has restructured its operations to more closely realign its insurance arm with its wealth management division, essentially giving Chris Williams a bigger job description.

NCB has not said how much it expects to save from the shifts, which includes changes to its international business unit and the departure of two executives, Ingrid Chambers and Chris Stokes.

"The change is not a big deal," said Dennis Cohen, deputy group managing director.

"We are just trying to become more efficient and create greater synergies in order to better serve customers."

NCB Insurance Company Limited which handles insurance and pension funds administration, is now a direct subsidiary of NCB Capital Markets Limited, effective Tuesday, March 18. Williams "will assume overall responsibility for the strategic management of the wealth management segment," the company said in a statement after market close Tuesday.

"The pension administration and investment management businesses are important growth areas for the group and we intend to intensify our focus so as to maximise our business opportunities," said NCB Group Managing Director Patrick Hylton.

Chambers, who had responsibility for NCB Insurance Company Limited (NCBIC) will leave office at the end of March, while her vice president Ann Marie Hamilton has been appointed acting general manager of NCBIC, reporting to Williams.

NCB Capital Market is involved in stock brokerage, securities trading and investment management.

Net profit

The company recorded net profit of $1.57 billion at the end of December, representing a 26.8 percentage increase over the previous year.

Funds under management totalled $51.7 billion at the end of 2007.

NCBIC, whose flagship product is Omni Insurance, made $425 million net profit in the same period, a seven point gain.

Said Hylton, Omni "is strongly aligned with our other wealth management products and we want to maximise that strategic fit."

Other changes announced by NCB includes the departure of Chris Stokes at the end of March, and the reshaping of the international business unit introduced two years ago.

The unit includes the company's remittance businesses - NCB Remittance Cayman Limited and NCB Remittance Services UK Limited.

The activities in these areas will be relatively unchanged, but the heads of the operations will now report to the head of retail banking, Courtney Campbell.

Campbell, whose unit reported a 105 per cent improvement on profit to $1.9 billion last year, oversees the development and distribution of products and services to individuals and business clients across NCB's 47 branch network.

Cohen also said changes to the group's marketing and human resources arm were also pending, saying they were being centralised.

Aside from the departures of Stokes and Chambers, no other staff changes are planned at this time, he said.


Source:
sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com
Jamaica Gleaner
Wednesday March 19, 2008

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