The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) accounted for the largest share of its Barbadian parent's retail banking revenues in the fiscal year ended on October 31, 2011, generating some $90.64 million or 44 per cent of the total. The Bahamian subsidiary's performance was revealed in the fiscal 2011 annual report for its CIBC FirstCaribbean parent, which also disclosed that this nation generated 20 per cent, or $47.2 million, of the group's corporate and investment banking revenues. This placed the Bahamas as CIBC FirstCaribbean's most important corporate and investment banking market, behind Barbados and the Cayman Islands, which held 38 per cent and 23 per cent shares, respectively. The Bahamas, though, held the number one spot when it came to retail banking, accounting for close to half the $206 million revenues generated by the region-wide banking group, which is majority owned by CIBC. Other nuggets contained in the annual report included the $21.5 million net asset value (NAV) placed on CIBC Trust Company (Bahamas) which, in a CIBC restructuring, saw FirstCaribbean acquire all its shares and those of its Cayman affiliate in a $75.8 million 'share swap' deal. The Bahamian company accounted for less than half the purchase price, which was valued on an NAV basis. CIBC Trust Company (Bahamas) had total assets of $505.23 million, and liabilities of $483.892 million, including $473.892 million of customer deposits. The Cayman company had an NAV of $54.3 million. Explaining the rationale for the CIBC Trust Company (Bahamas) deal, Michael Mansoor, CIBC FirstCaribbean's chairman, said the bank expected "that we will be able to integrate their trust and fund administration services to private and institutional wealth customers, to augment or growth strategy". At year-end 2011, CIBC FirstCaribbean (Bahamas) had total assets of $1.743 billion and total liabilities of $1.718 billion, providing net assets of $25.834 million. This represented a sizeable drop on 2010, when the Bahamian operation's net assets were $477.783 million. The reduction was largely caused by an increase in customer deposits, which jumped from $1.242 billion in 2010 to $1.705 billion at end-October 2011.