Mr. Lee-Chin in a contemplative mood.
- Norman GrindleyBarbara Ellington, Features Co-ordinator
History was created
on Friday, January 11, when a Jamaican based in Canada, Michael Lee-Chin, who heads AIC Limited, bought the controlling interests in National Commercial Bank (NCB), held by FINSAC Limited.
In last Thursday's Financial Post, Barry Critchley describes the six-foot-three billionaire as being passionate about his beliefs. AIC's logo: Buy, Hold and Prosper, is present throughout its Burlington, Ontario, headquarters and his well-deserved luxurious lifestyle includes a mansion on Florida's Gulf Coast and a heliport at the office.
Early in the game, Mr. Lee-Chin looked for role models who had created wealth and followed their lead. These include Warren Buffett, Galen Weston and Ken Thomson.
He has come a long way since the time he took $400 from the $600 he'd saved for college fees, bought a return ticket and came home to seek a three-year bursary from then Prime Minister, Hugh Shearer. These days, he flies home in the comfort of his private jet.
In his first interview since the acquisition, the media-shy billionaire spoke candidly with The Sunday Gleaner about his reasons for the purchase and his vision for NCB.
Q: What is your vision for NCB?
A: I see NCB as the pre-eminent national financial institution in Jamaica and I want to make sure NCB is brought back to that status. I am going to do it in the following way.
1. Set standards for the staff to provide a fertile environment to grow and become confident.
2. Deliver a customer service that is second to none in Jamaica and on par with the best in North America.
3. Build a business that Jamaicans can be proud to own because they bank there and should feel they can be confident that through their ownership of NCB they will have a bright financial future because they own an investment that is first class.
The ambition is to bring back NCB to the glory days when it was respected and people wanted to do business with NCB.
Q: Are you going to be keeping the existing management structure?
A: We are business people, we did due diligence, the essence of every business is the human capital. We have to come in and see for ourselves what the quality of the human capital is. How loyal the staff talent is, how committed, hard-working, how focused, how passionate they are in seeing the vision and wanting to build that business to being the permanent business in Jamaica. We have to come in and audit before we can make a comment. Can't stay here and do it.
Q: Will NCB remain a retail commercial bank
A: We are a financial institution, the bank has a large market share right now and we're going to increase that market share. We want to be the place where Jamaicans do their business, all financial services transactions from brokerage to banking to borrowing, savings to investing and insurance - one-stop shopping. We will build a business that they know and they have confidence in and are proud of and happy with.
Q: How do you see our current economic landscape and what will your role be in it?
A: I am a very optimistic person and I see the huge potential of Jamaica that has been fritted away by bad management, selfishness, greed and by people not putting back but just taking out. I'm coming to Jamaica not because I need to get anything but because I see squander and abuse of our natural potential.
Every time I go to Cayman, Barbados, the Bahamas, I feel bad because Jamaica should be way beyond those islands and we're not, so I see NCB as a vessel that we can use to set standards, to contribute to the society, to provide leadership to other businesses as to how a responsible corporation should behave and we're going to lead by example.
I don't need anything from Jamaica but it pains my heart to see what's happening there. I feel very fortunate that we now have NCB, a vessel that has wide enough distribution in the population that we can lead by example.
Q: Do you have any investors on the horizon to come on board, not just in banking but in other areas?
A: No, we are self-sufficient.
Q: What are your thoughts on the current trend towards merged entities (consolidation). Do you see NCB as a subsidiary of AIC - what is AIC's role in all of this?
A: AIC's role is to provide a huge support, resources, financing - whatever is necessary to make it the permanent business in the Caribbean and be in the background providing support - we're going to make it happen.
Q: In the last few years there has been a lack of competitive loans for people to start up businesses, people have become afraid to borrow because of high interest rates. Do you see NCB returning to lending money aggressively and competitively for people to start up businesses?
A: The bank is there to take in deposits and make loans. It's now for us to make sensible loans. We're in the banking business so we'll make sensible loans.
Q: How do you feel as the only Jamaican to make this symbolic/ significant acquisition. You know the story of 'local boy makes good'. What drove you to do it and how does it make you feel?
A: Firstly, it is a humbling experience. Every day I come to work I give thanks to have found myself in the position I'm in today not just with NCB but in respect to the business we have here in Canada; not many people have the opportunity to affect so many other people's lives.
We manage money at AIC for one million Canadians who have entrusted us with their financial future. That's a big responsibility and I feel fortunate, blessed and humbled that I have that opportunity to contribute. AIC is a very successful business... I grew with it over 15 years.
When I was growing up in 1958, my dad applied to be a bank teller and because he wasn't high brown enough - not that he wasn't bright enough or client-friendly enough - he did not get the job. People see us now and think we're rich people, my mom was an orphan - so to come back to Jamaica and contribute to the country that gave me my start in life, that made me the person I am, is sobering. Jamaica made me. To be able to contribute to Jamaica in its time of need is a humbling responsibility.
I sometimes fear becoming disconnected from what made me in the first place - that's the start of the demise. Once you stop doing what made you successful in the first place, it's a slippery slope. The character traits that were embedded in me from an early age; being confident, Jamaica made me confident; being hard working, I saw that in my parents; being focused, honest, having integrity - I got from my parents - being passionate, Jamaicans are passionate people. For those reasons I'm sitting here today.
Q: Did you encounter any resistance to the purchase? Was it a sweet deal for you?
A: Yes, there was resistance; FINSAC negotiated hard but they got a good deal for Jamaica. Those who say it was a sweet deal should put their money where their mouth is. Talk is cheap; there was no hanky-panky business here, we negotiated with FINSAC and HSBC so talk is cheap. The bank was advertised worldwide. Talk is a weakness in Jamaica, we talk, talk, talk but we don't act. Now is the time for action.
Q: Do you think you'll get help from Government to make running the bank smoother?
A: We don't need any help from them, we are not used to Government help, we started business in Canada and did it, we need help from the staff.
Q: How much capital injection will you do?
A: We won't need to put any in, the bank is amply capitalised. The loan portfolio is eight per cent of its assets most of which are in Local Registered Stock (LRS). The bank is clean and strong.
Q: Any plans for a home base in Jamaica?
A: Home base is with my parents when I come home and that is where I'd rather be for now.
Q: Will you have a hands-on role in the running of NCB?
A: Yes, I'm a hands-on person - I met the staff in all but one of the Kingston branches on Saturday before I left. My first mission is to meet all the staff. We close the deal on March 18 and we will hold a staff conference for the complement of 2,600 the following weekend at the Jamaica Conference Centre. We'll have an open format where they can ask questions, we will introduce ourselves and say what our intentions are and find out what their intentions are.
Q: What are the short-term goals - say in the first six months what do you hope to achieve?
A: We would like to see the customer service of the bank change markedly, the perception Jamaicans have of dealing with the bank, we want to change that instantaneously to one whereby your business is welcome and you're treated hospitably - that's the first goal.
Q: Tell me what you think went wrong with NCB?
A: Profligacy and lack of discipline.
Q: You came across at the signing as very passionate - persons are concerned that the purchase is based on passion rather than sound business practice.
A: Tell those persons to look at my track record, the proof of the pudding is in the track record. People need to look and see how I did it, try to learn something from this person instead of being negative.
The self-made 51-year-old Michael Lee-Chin studied civil engineering at McMaster University in Canada and was part of the team that worked on the Mandela Highway. He is the eldest of nine siblings and is separated with three children.
