By Andrew Green, Staff ReporterMONTEGO BAY, St. James:
AFTER TAKING a back seat in the Jamaican market while it reorganised, FirstCaribbean International Bank has rejoined the fray.
For the bank to expand, it will have to increase its presence in several key countries across the region, said Raymond Campbell, the bank's executive director for Capital Markets. The locally-based executive said Jamaica is one of those territories.
"The Jamaican public will see and feel far more presence by the bank and involvement in this country," Mr. Campbell said. "Products that were on the CIBC radar that were delayed in the integration process will get rolled out late this year."
He was speaking in an interview at the EuroFinance conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay yesterday.
The Caribbean operations of Barclays Bank PLC and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) were combined to form FirstCaribbean in October of 2002. In Jamaica, CIBC had played a vital role long before the country's independence.
"The market will see more innovation, more products, more advertising and more market presence generally," he said.
"Customers have started to see significant offers both in loans, mortgages and credit cards," said Francis Lewis, the bank's executive director of marketing and product development. In the Jamaican loan market currently, he said, "We have at this time the best package in terms of rates and total package."
FirstCaribbean operates in 15 countries, enjoying a 30 per cent to 40 per cent market share in several, Mr. Campbell said. In two of those markets, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, the market share is below 30 per cent.
PROFITS
The bank gets about 70 per cent of its profits from the Bahamas, Barbados and the Cayman Islands, which have a combined population equivalent to about one quarter that of Jamaica. It gets well below 10 per cent of its profits from Jamaica.
Given their population and the size of their economies, Mr. Lewis said Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago need more focus.
Outside of its prospects in Jamaica and Trinidad, the bank will also have to examine the opportunities offered by Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, Mr. Campbell said.
Over the next 18 months, the benefits of the integration process will start to be realised in the region, Mr. Campbell said. "It is going to change some of the general market dynamic which we attach to the business in Jamaica."
The first new FirstCaribbean branch has now been approved for Jamaica, Mr. Lewis said. During the integration process, there was a freeze on branch expansion. That new branch is to be located in Montego Bay.
Telephone and Internet banking will also be launched by the end of the year, Mr. Lewis said. FirstCaribbean will be spending nearly US$10 million to execute that project.
"The development of branches will be driven by our experience with telephone and Internet banking," Mr. Lewis said. "Once we have launched that, we will be able to see the traffic patterns."
Customers can now interact with the bank through its branches, banking machines, debit cards, credit cards, or personal visits to corporate customers. Mr. Lewis said that adding telephone banking and Internet banking will give customers seven channels for reaching the bank.
