By Al Edwards, Business Co-ordinatorPAN CARIBBEAN Financial Services (PCFS) has transformed its organisational structure, said Donovan Perkins, its President and Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Perkins was speaking at a luncheon at the Terra Nova Hotel held recently to outline the structural changes which have been made over the past 6 months.
In December of last year, Trafalgar Development Bank (TDB) was renamed Pan Caribbean Financial Services as part of a move to separate the investment services section of the business from the traditional banking activities. This change was primarily made in response to legislation passed in Parliament that required all commercial and merchant banks to do so by 2003.
Addressing directors, shareholders and investors at the luncheon, Mr. Perkins said the necessary changes would soon be completed to make Pan Caribbean Merchant Bank (PCMB) and Pan Caribbean Financial Services (PCFS), into two separate entities.
"Over the coming weeks, we plan to complete the process of transferring investment accounts from the Merchant Bank to Pan Caribbean Financial Services (PCFS)," he said. "However, very little else will change, clients will still go through the same procedure when dealing with their investments," Mr. Perkins said.
As a result of these changes, Pan Caribbean Merchant Bank will now focus on foreign exchange trading, loans, multi-currency CD's and savings accounts along with its corporate trust and registrar services.
Pan Caribbean Financial Services, on the other hand, will offer through its BOJ Primary Dealer Unit, a wide range of money market instruments including bonds, repos, local registered stocks, debentures and treasury bills. Investment management services as well as corporate and project financing will also be offered.
NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
The Pan Caribbean management team took the opportunity to discuss new products and services in the making including private client services, Internet banking and mutual funds.
The institution is well capitalised with over $1 billion of equity. Its two senior executives, Donovan Perkins and Anya Schnoor (Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer), say they are proud of what the management team has built, particularly over the past five years.
"In 1992 we had capital of $14 million, assets of $300 million and profits of $5 million," Mr. Perkins said. "Today we are the oldest Jamaica owned bank with a healthy capital base, assets of $15 billion and profits of $217 million."
With the recent recovery of the financial sector and an upgraded banking platform (completed at the end of the first quarter), Pan Caribbean intends to strengthen its market position and to that end has embarked on offering a number of new services and products.
Next month Pan Caribbean will officially launch its new corporate offices and will celebrate its twentieth anniversary.
