First Citizens Bank (Trinidad and Tobago)


First Citizens is a bank based in Trinidad and Tobago. First Citizens has assets of over TT$38 billion, 25 branches in Trinidad and three in Tobago and five in Barbados. It also has a representative office in Costa Rica, which handles its Latam business. It wholly owns First Citizens Limited, which it established as an offshore financial vehicle for the Bank and its subsidiaries and also to conduct selected banking and financial service operations in the Caribbean Region. The Group's Chief Executive Officer is Karen Darbasie and the office of Group Chief Financial Officer is held by Shiva Manraj. There are two deputy CEO's, Jason Julien and Sterling Frost. Lindi Ballah Tull is the Group's Corporate Secretary and head of the legal department.

History

The Birth of First Citizens Bank

On September 13, 1993 the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago merged three government-owned entities, National Commercial Bank, the Trinidad Co-operative Bank, and the Workers' Bank to form First Citizens Bank.
In a strange twist of fate, all three institutions ran into severe financial difficulties to varying degrees between 1986 and 1992 resulting in a Government takeover of all three entities. In what was considered a bold, even absurd move, in 1993 the Government of Trinidad and Tobago merged all three banks into one, and First Citizens Bank was born.

The Early Years

Given the history of the previous three entities, not many people gave First Citizens Bank much hope of survival and felt that it was only a matter of time before the institution folded. However, by its first birthday, the Bank was able to declare a consolidated profit and had reduced the loan portfolio in arrears to 33% by August 1994. Other significant initiatives in its early years were:
Established in 1993, the First Citizens Group comprises:
The First Citizens Asset Management team manages a range of mutual funds and several major pension fund plans, with funds under management at approximately $11.1 billion. Another subsidiary, the Trustee Services Company increased its revenue generating capability and also increased its fee income from $21.0 million in 2010 to $22.3 million in 2011.

Financials

For the financial year ended September 30, 2011, the First Citizens Group showed an increase in profit after tax of $718.2 million. The Group’s Asset base increased from $29.5 billion to $31.2 billion and in spite of the general deceleration in the local economy, the Group’s gross loan base grew from $8.8 billion to $9.0 billion. In the year under review the Group successfully issued a US$175 million bond on the international capital market which was significantly oversubscribed. Standard & Poor's and Moody’s also re-affirmed First Citizens investment grade ratings of BBB+/A2 and Baa1/A1 respectively.

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