Republic Bank

From MedBib.com - Medicine & Nature

Republic Bank is a leading bank in Trinidad and Tobago and one of the largest in the Eastern Caribbean. It has branches in Grenada, Guyana, Barbados, the Dominican Republic and offshore banking operations incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Formerly a division of Barclays Bank in Trinidad and Tobago, Republic Bank offers a full range of financial services.

History

The forerunner of Republic Bank, Colonial Bank was established on May 15, 1837 by Royal Charter^[1]. John Irving MP was the first chairman.^[2] Colonial Bank was reported to have a "virtual monopoly" on banking in nineteenth century Trinidad.^[3]

In 1909 Colonial Bank established a branch on High Street, San Fernando.^[3]

• 1925 The Colonial Bank merges with the Anglo-Egyptian Bank (est. 1864) and the National Bank of South Africa (est. 1891) to form Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas). Barclays had inherited the ownership of The Colonial Bank when it acquired the London Provincial and South Western Bank in 1918. On May 6 1926, Colonial Bank changes its name to Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas)^[3].

• 1939 As a result of the labor disturbances and the announcement that Britain was at war with Germany, the bank experiences a run.
• 1963 Barclays Bank acquires Bank of Trinidad, established in 1959.

On April 1, 1972 it became Barclays DCO became Barclays Bank International Limited^[1]. The local operation changed its name to Barclays Bank Trinidad and Tobago.

In the 1970s, with pressure for local control of the banking industry, Barclays Bank began a process of divestment of shares.^[4] In 1977, Barclays Bank Trinidad and Tobago sold the majority of its shares locally.^[4]. This prompted another name change, to Republic Bank Limited on April 1, 1981.^[1]

• 1989 Barclays sold its 41% holding to Colonial Life Insurance Co. (Trinidad). Colonial Life built up its holding to 46.7% and later reduced it to 34%.
• 1992 RB and Grupo Acedo-Mendoza established Acedo-Mendoza Fincor C.A., a confirming house with offices in Venezuela and Colombia as well as Trinidad. RB established Republic Bank Trinidad and Tobago (Cayman) Limited, a wholly-owned offshore bank. RB purchased 51% of the National Commercial Bank of Grenada Limited, a commercial banking operation with eight branches on the islands of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. The three publicly-owned OECS indigenous banks acquire 39% and the government retains 10%. The government had founded NCB of Grenada in 1979. In 1980, the bank acquired the shares of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (Grenada) and also purchased the assets of Royal Bank of Canada (Grenville).
• 1994 RB purchases 23% of Bank of Commerce Trinidad and Tobago Limited. RB purchases 20% of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (West Indies) Holdings Limited. This gives RB linkages with the holding company's branches in the Caribbean islands of Barbados, St. Vincent, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia and Jamaica. The shareholding is currently 14%.
• 1996 RB buys another 31.14% of Bank of Commerce, taking shareownership up to 51.14%, making Bank of Commerce a subsidiary of Republic Bank.
• 1997 The purchase of approximately 10.9 million shares gives RB a total of 95.3% of Bank of Commerce. RB acquires of 47.5% of shares of the National Bank of Industry and Commerce (NBIC) from the government of Guyana. National Bank of Industry and Commerce Guyana took over the operations of Royal Bank of Canada, which left Guyana in 1984 when the government acquired 51% of the capital. In 1914 Royal Bank of Canada had acquired the activities of the British Guiana Bank, which had been incorporated in 1836 and had began operations in 1837. A truce ends an eight-year battle for control of RB with Colonial Life. (RB is an Indian-managed bank and so the conflict has had ethnic aspects.)
• 1999 RB establishes Republic Bank (Barbados) Ltd as an offshore bank to complement the operations of its Cayman Islands subsidiary.
• 2003 RB acquires a 57% interest in the Barbados National Bank Inc. RB acquires 93% of the failed Banco Mercantil (est. 1984), the sixth largest bank in the Dominican Republic.

Subsidiaries

In addition to its main banking operations in Trinidad and Tobago, Republic Bank has the following subsidiaries^[5]

• Republic Finance and Merchant Bank Limited (FINCOR)
• Republic Bank (Grenada) Limited
• Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited
• Republic Bank Trinidad & Tobago (Cayman) Limited
• Republic Bank Trinidad & Tobago (Barbados) Limited
• London Street Project Company Limited
• Barbados National Bank Inc.
• Republic Bank (DR) S.A.
• Infolink Services Limited
• Securicor Trinidad Limited (now Group 4 Securicor Trinidad Limited after the worldwide merger of the operations of Securicor and Group 4 Falck in July 2004)
• The Home Mortgage Bank
• Republic Securities Limited

Largest competitors

• Citibank
• FirstCaribbean International Bank
• National Commercial Bank of Jamaica
• Scotiabank
• RBTT
• Royal Bank of Canada

References

Executive Organisational Chart 2008

<img src="http://www.republictt.com/images/rbl_org_chart/company%20org%20chart_r1_c1.jpg" alt="Gregory L. Thomson"> <img src="http://www.republictt.com/images/rbl_org_chart/company%20org%20chart_r2_c1.jpg">

<img src="http://www.republictt.com/images/rbl_org_chart/company%20org%20chart_r1_c2.jpg" alt="Nigel M. Baptiste" > <img src="http://www.republictt.com/images/rbl_org_chart/company%20org%20chart_r2_c2.jpg">

<img src="http://www.republictt.com/images/rbl_org_chart/company%20org%20chart_r1_c3.jpg" alt="Karen Yip Chuck"> <img src="http://www.republictt.com/images/rbl_org_chart/company%20org%20chart_r2_c3.jpg">

External links

• Republic Bank website.
• Colonial Bank Correspondence 1837-1885, University of the West Indies library.