Managing director leaves her role at Bank of The Bahamas

As of Tuesday, March 27, 2018

RENEE Davis

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

RENEE Davis’ tenure as acting managing director of the Bank of the Bahamas ended yesterday.

An email to BOB staff portrayed her departure as an amicable decision between her and the bank’s board.

She leaves nearly two years after she was appointed acting managing director, having served in several roles since her arrival in 2005. Her departure comes not long after BOB’s former Acting Managing Director Hubert Edwards also left his role.

BOB’s board released no official statement on the change yesterday and it is not clear when a replacement may be made.

However, the board’s decision to refresh its leadership won praise from Darron Cash, former Free National Movement chairman, BOB shareholder and critic of the bank, who said the decision is among a number of “positive” steps the board has taken since its appointment last year.

“It is the right decision and I commend the board for having the courage to go ahead and make the change,” he said when contacted. “This is a matter I addressed at the annual general meeting in suggesting that meaningful progress in the bank would not happen until there is substantial change in the leadership. I wish it would have happened sooner but I applaud them for being deliberate in their decision making process.

“Unfortunately the reality is over the past several years the organisation has been losing significant talent; very good people have gone because of poor leadership at the top and those outstanding people have left at a time when the organisation needed strength. I hope and pray that in selecting a new managing director the board would be equally as deliberate in the selection process and choose someone who would inspire confidence not just within shareholders but within the business community; someone who could inspire trust and integrity which are paramount for a bank that has been losing depositors for a long time.

“The organisation has got to demonstrate the ability to innovate,” he said. “The minister of finance has been in the newspaper importantly talking about the need for innovation as a number of the legacy Canadian banks have left a number of Family Islands and scaled down services in some of our communities. It would go a very long way if the new leadership of the BOB can demonstrate new ways of serving those in under served markets. Furthermore, the leadership team within the bank has a lot of work to do in terms of building morale among the employees. The bank has been plagued by poor leadership that has been detrimental to morale.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest has said a forensic audit will be performed into BOB.

Toxic loans transferred off the bank’s balance sheet in recent years and credit that has been written off will be probed, he said, arguing political interference and shoddy lending practices were key factors in the decline of an institution that has struggled to be profitable.

For all the bank’s problems, successive administrations have scoffed at the idea of letting it fail, with Mr Turnquest arguing that doing so would be more costly than propping it up.

sealice 6 years ago

CEO of BOB doesn't sound like something good to have on your resume....

observer2 6 years ago

Good idea to leave before the forensic team arrives. Hopefully, E&Y's mandate will cover all the loans transferred to Resolve and not just the good loans left at BoB.

bogart 6 years ago

ABSOLUTE FULL FORENSIC INVESTIGATION NEEDED,!! HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF VAT TAX PAYERS PEOPLES MONEY POURED INTO PROPPING UP BANK WHICH GAVE OUT EXTREMELY HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE LOANS .....BAHAMIANS SUFFERING, PEOPLE CANT FIX HURRICANE DAMAGE HOUSES, CHILDREN TAKEN OUT OF SCHOOLS, CHILDREN ASKING FOR FOOD.....HOSPITAL BEDS NEEDED....DEAD PEOPLE HAVE TO BE PUT IN BATHTUB WITH ICE,.....SOME ISLANDS NEEDING WATER....SOME ISLANDS.PEPPLE AND CHILDREN ON THE SOUP LINE....NIB MONEY IN THIS BANK THAT IT TOO COSTLY TO FAIL.....AN NOBODY AINT FOUND GUILTY AN GONE TO JAIL.... ALL aspiring politicians promised investigations, even PROTESTED OUTSIDE BANK OF THE BAHAMAS......hundreds of millions of peoples VAT money taken outta the mouts of Bahamians to prop up this bank with questionable loans.....plus need to investigate who loans got denied and suffered...need to find out if all mortgaged stamped and secured...documentation....Promissory Notes....???...security??...need to find out all about use of MORTGAGE INDEMNITY INSURANCE SOLD.....did customers get anything in writing?? .need to find out sho authorized then illegal number houses money to be deposited. Accepted...KYC rules...pProceeds of gambling.?...do employees attend Money Laundering Cources ..at Central Bank approved??..etc??.....ClearingBank system??...with policies....need to find out who did not provision the bank adequately....need to find out who did not authorize policies and enable bank to meet tier 1 &2 ratios,....need to find out who authorized bank to sue Central Bank and who is going to pay for it....need to find out who authorized 100 milloon of the peoples money for resolve and James Smith said assets eorth less and auditors said even less....Bahamizms suffering like nrver before loosng jobs by the thousands an to top it off hundreds of millions and NIB poured into this govt majority owned bank!!! ....just name any Bahamian fammily or cousin..auntie...mama...grampa...who aint struggling...and better off than before .....now hundreds of millions of thrir VAT money went to prop up this bank

Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years ago

And what about all of the delinquent and long past due student education loans funded by BoB and guaranteed by government?

sheeprunner12 6 years ago

Good question Mudda .......... still waiting to find out who are on that list of 4000 students who got the $150 million of Government student loans (that we are all paying for).

DDK 6 years ago

Amen!

DDK 6 years ago

Bahamas Government has been involved as the major shareholder of BOB, I believe, since 1988. Hope there are no 'red shirts' as Comrade is so fond of calling the FNM, ducking a BOB unveiling!

bogart 6 years ago

Ever seen the skinny kids putside the food stores with their Sponser me sheets asking for money?....or the big teenager looking decent dressed with a backpack at an eastern plaza asking for a sponser...??...ever seen a person getting mad cause they have to take their child out of school??...ever seen all the charity food giving food organizations in the papers?? ...how many people you know wearing gold jewellry??....

abe 6 years ago

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seamphony 6 years ago

People who stole from BOB still living like kings while the rest of you are begging for a job, food or school for your families.

Obviously no bahamian government can run crap. it is no good too anyone except money laundering webshops. stop playing banker. cut the loss, bite the bullet and SHUT DOWN THIS CLOWN OPERATION NOW.

seamphony 6 years ago

Hundreds of Millions of Dollars from NIB contributions went to pay a few corrupt families' land, house, businesses instead of paying for schools, hospital, roads, whatever or saving for a rainy day for the bahamian public which seems to happen a lot June-November around here. We should stop being idiots and end this BS now.

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