It has now been confirmed that the newly-established National Commercial Bank of Anguilla (NCBA) will be moving in due course from one of its two nearby branches in The Valley. That is because the building, formerly the National Bank of Anguilla, is owned by another company.
Accordingly, at an appropriate time, NCBA will operate only one branch in The Valley: the former Caribbean Commercial Bank building. And it will also operate a branch at the West End owned by the former National Bank of Anguilla, and now NCBA.
The question about the ownership of the NBA building on the Airport Road, in The Valley, came up at the Government’s press conference on Tuesday this week.
“You will notice that there are two branches of NCBA in The Valley,” Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr. Victor Banks, remarked to reporters. “You may think that it is a little strange to have two branches so close to each other. So what NCBA is doing is ensuring that it also has a branch in another part of the island – that being the new building in West End which it owns. When that is operating, it will provide a convenience for persons who live in that part of the island, workers in the hotel sector, as well as guests…”
Mr. Banks continued: It is proposed that the present site, formerly the National Bank of Anguilla in The Valley, will not be used. There are a number of issues I have heard associated with that building. I am hearing that it is owned by the Bank of Dominica or by an Anguillian company. That was part of the arrangements that were made during the early stages of the struggle of National Bank of Anguilla to find a way to meet the challenges it faced with its operations. A group, comprising shareholders of the bank, would have formed a company to take control of all those assets of real estate in various parts of the island…The new NCBA only owns the Caribbean Commercial Bank building and the other bank building at West End.
“This other building [in The Valley] is being used under a lease agreement. There are some issues with that which will have to be resolved. One of the proposals is that it be sold; and another is that the Government of Anguilla should purchase it but, as we speak, these are just proposals, considerations, that may or may not be undertaken. But it gives us an opportunity to have some discussions with the company that owns those assets to come to some agreement whether or not they would sell it to somebody else, rent it, or come to some other arrangement. This is still left to be seen.”
