WrightMcPherse Thompson, Staff Reporter
THE NATIONAL Development Bank of Jamaica (NDBJ) will be closing five of its seven rural offices, merge its Kingston outlet and make the posts of 19 of its staff redundant as part of a major restructuring programme.
Slow repayments of between 30-35 per cent of its loan portfolio, cash flow and administrative problems have contributed to the reorganisation, the Foundation said yesterday.
In a release, the NDBJ said its Ocho Rios branch in St. Ann, as well as outlets in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland; Santa Cruz, St. Elizabeth; Port Antonio, Portland, and Brown's Town, St. Ann would be closed and the accounts transferred to other branches. The Kingston branch has been merged with the head office at Old Hope Road, St. Andrew and divisional management of the functional areas reassigned to senior managers in the head office.
The Foundation said further evaluation of the branch delivery system was being done to determine how its head office, as well as the Montego Bay and Mandeville branches could be streamlined.
A management team, led by chief executive officer, Michael Wright, has been put in place to implement the restructuring programme, expected to be completed by December. Mr. Wright will also oversee the restoration of the Foundation "to good health" under a master plan.
According to the Foundation, "after 21 years, the directors, with the assistance of consultants, have made a paradigm shift from the traditional small business model of lending, to a leaner and more dynamic organisation in its conduct of business and range of services.
The NDBJ was established in 1981, as a private non-profit development bank to provide institutional support to the small and micro business sectors in the form of loans, non-traditional credit, technical services and training. It disperses funding from the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) and Development Options under a special Ministry of Investment and European Union programme.
Despite the slow loan repayments, the Foundation said, it has enough assets to cover its liabilities. Furthermore, it said the board was satisfied the current problems would be satisfactorily resolved and the organisation's profitability restored very soon.
By the first half of next year, the NDBJ said, it would be putting in place technological support for the delivery of services throughout Jamaica, including those areas where branches were being closed. Its school of business would now provide all the technical services assistance for courses specific to the training needs of the small business sector.
The Foundation said part of the major focus of its board and management going forward, would be an aggressive drive to collect outstanding debts from its delinquent clientele.
