The National Commercial Bank of Anguilla (NCBA) – which sprung out of the failed legacy banks –NBA and CCB – is doing very well since its formation and, according to its much-touted tag-line, “is here to stay.” It was established as a bridge bank in April 2016.
The performance of the bank from that year, to now, was revealed by the Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Sharmaine Francois. She called a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, January 28, to deliver NCBA’s unaudited accounts for the financial year which ended October 31, 2019, and are now with the bank’s external auditors. The hope is to publish the statements in Anguilla over the coming months.
Those in attendance at the press conference were Governor Tim Foy, OBE; Premier Victor Banks, Minister of Finance; Chairman of NCBA, Mr. Carl Harrigan; members of the bank’s management team and media representatives.
The CEO told the gathering: “As of October 2019, our total assets were 817 million dollars roughly. From 2018-2019 there was a 12% increase so your bank is growing. There has also been a significant increase in our investments portfolio of 81% over 2018. In securities, we have a portfolio of 251 million pending loan opportunities. We have also seen some positives in terms of customer deposits of 13% over the 2018 numbers. Our total customer deposits, as of October 31, were 742 million.” She disclosed, however, that there was a decline in loans and advances among other negatives.
Ms. Francois revealed that NCBA recorded its first net profit of 5.002 million dollars for the financial year ended Octob
er 31, 2019, but a loss in 2018. She stressed that the bank had moved from a situation of “uncertainty to stabilisation” adding, for the information of the public, that “your bank is stable. We are moving away from the uncertain waters and are now in stable waters. As I mentioned, we achieved the first full year net profit compared to when we started. That is a huge change in the performance of the bank”.
She reported that NCBA had exceeded several banking benchmarks in its performance including capital, liquidity and deposits – and was in a good position to make loans to obtain income to support the growth of the bank. There was a strong balance sheet with an increase of 12% or 90 million dollars in assets – amounting to 817 million dollars as previously stated. There was also strong customer confidence with a growth of 86 million dollars in deposits over the past twelve months. “That was a 13% increase, and speaks to the level of confidence in NCBA,” the CEO added.
Ms. Francois spoke about several other areas of growth of the bank; its leadership in all the local market shares and benchmarks; and the confidence and support of the business community. All of this information, and more, will be reflected when NCBA’s audited financial statements are published in accordance with the Banking Act.
The CEO indicated that those audited statements would not differ much from the unaudited reports she delivered, as much care was taken to ensure their accuracy.
Earlier, Mr. Carl Harrigan, in his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors, gave a brief overview of the early and recent operations of NCBA and thanked a number of persons, including the former Chairman, Mr. Colville Petty, for their work.
During the question and answer period, Premier Victor Banks thanked Ms. Francois for her comprehensive report – and the staff members for their continuing dedicated service; and he repeated the tag-line of NCBA that “it is here to stay”.
