Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) yesterday said it had no plans to sell its Bahamian operations or those in any other Caribbean country, following its exit from Jamaica.
The bank, in a statement sent to Tribune Business after it confirmed it was selling its Jamaican business to Sagicor, said: “RBC does not have plans to divest any other assets in the Caribbean.
“We have operated in the Bahamas and wider Caribbean region continuously for over 100 years, and the sale of our Jamaica operations is an important step in allowing us to focus our efforts and business on the Caribbean markets in which we can lead and operate on a sustainable basis.”
RBC added: “In the Bahamas, we have a leading full-service franchise, which includes deep, long-term client relationships, strong business performance and highly committed, effective employees.
“We are committed to growing our operations here and in other countries across the region. Like other businesses and individuals, RBC is navigating through challenging economic times in the Bahamas and Caribbean. We are addressing weak financial performance in some counties and we are focused on strengthening our position in the region for the long term.”
Comments
Reality_Check 10 years, 3 months ago
The writing is on the wall; foreign financial institutions like RBC have started embarking on their well planned exit strategy from an increasingly corrupt Caribbean/West Indies Region in which they are confronted with too much business risk and very limited business opportunities. Senior RBC officials in Canada are meeting daily to discuss/monitor the BOB situation. The mantra seems to be: IF A BAHAMIAN GOVT OWNED BANK WITH DEPOSIT FUNDS FROM THE PUBLIC IS VULNERABLE AND RIFE WITH CORRUPTION, WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT THE LEVEL OF CORRUPTION AT THE TOP OF THE BAHAMIAN GOVT!! THE TONE AT THE TOP IS SET BY THE PM AND THE WATERS ARE NOW MUCH "TOO HOT" FOR MOST CANADIAN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WHO HAVE OPERATED IN OUR COUNTRY FOR MANY YEARS. TIME FOR CANADIAN BANKS TO CONTAIN LOSSES BY PACKING UP AND SAYING GOOD-BYE!!! THE BELL DOTH TOLL FOR THE BAHAMAS.
banker 10 years, 3 months ago
@Reality_Check I think that the problem is deeper than that. The concept of a tax haven is dying out. With FATCA and other OECD initiatives, the banks with a Canadian head office see themselves on the wrong side of the fence. The Canadian government led by Mr. Harper is quite conservative (as well as being Conservative) and they do not believe in tax havens. Every single G20 country wants to kill the tax haven concept.
The Swiss have come up with Abgeltungssteuer-Abkommen (withholding tax agreements) with various countries. Let's say you are a German and you have a secret account in Switzerland. What the Swiss bank does, is subtract 4% of all of the accounts of German citizens, and gives the money to the treasurer of Germany anonymously. It doesn't give out names. Therefore, the money is now white money, or legally taxed money.
Royal Bank is way too profitable to completely leave, but I think that their profit is lower and lower year by year. Scotiabank decided to get into the domestic mortgage business in a big way and they as a result are suffering due to deliquencies, and that is why they are laying off.
In a sense, you are right about the Caribbean/West Indies banking scene. It is in a decline and the only thing keeping it afloat, is the new money from the rich in Latin American countries who are hiding from the tax man. Once they get their affairs sorted out, there will be a collapse in this region, and Singapore is actively taking up the slack. They have a strong enough economy for now to tell the OECD and IMF to buzz off.
Julian Francis had it right when he once remarked that we could be huge in banking if we were modernised, totally compliant with the G20, simply because we are not American banks. We could have a ton of American business, because the Canadian banks that are here, had the lowest amount of toxic assets during the 2008 meltdown. We could be good at regular banking with strict rules, but apparently we don't want that. We want our "Financial Services" which is another word for tax evasion.
So it slipslides away.
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