Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 07/Oct 06:01

First Citizens board set to resign on October 7

The First Citizens Group board is expected to resign on October 7, a day before a special general meeting will be held to nominate new board members for the group. This is the latest chapter in the shake-up at the state-owned bank, starting with the resignation of group CEO Karen Darbasie, whose resignation takes effect on October 21. Newsday was told in August that Darbasie submitted her resignation to corporation sole, Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo on August 20. Darbasie, who assumed the role of group CEO in April 2015 as the first woman to hold the CEO’s spot, went on approved vacation on August 21 ahead of pre-retirement leave. Group Deputy CEO Jason Julien took up the role of acting group CEO in Darbasie’s absence. On August 22 while responding to questions surrounding Darbasie’s departure, Tancoo hinted at concerns over the bank’s operations. The minister said: “You cannot undo a decade of PNM deliberate mismanagement overnight. “Will there be fallout? Yes. Because we will be focused simultaneously on enhanced and multiple streams of foreign-exchange generation and a transparent distribution. Obviously then, those who have benefited from the skewed system facilitated by the PNM...will complain loudest." A week later, while responding to questions at the closing ceremony for the July-August vacation cricket camp at the Wilson Road Recreation Grounds in Penal, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar confirmed that the government was looking into “matters that were going on” at the bank. In response to questions on the changes at the bank, Persad-Bissessar said: “As far as I am aware, the government does not get involved in matters of that area. A new board will be appointed shortly. I do not want to say any more about FCB because I do not want to prejudice any investigations that are ongoing with respect to matters that were going on in FCB." On August 27, Tancoo said in a media release that the ministry presented instruments of appointment to the new members of the board of First Citizens Holdings Ltd. The board includes Shankar Bidaisee, current chairman of the Urban Development Company of TT (Udecott), Professor Sterling Frost, human resource team leader Crystelle Smith, insurance executive Prakash Dhanrajh, fast-food executive Sandy Roopchand, management executive Jo-Anne Boodoosingh, business executive Javan Lewis and business consultant Nichelle Granderson. Sources confirmed to Newsday that the board of First Citizens Holdings is likely to be nominated to the board of its subsidiaries, as is customary. First Citizens Holdings Ltd is wholly owned by the corporation sole – the government. First Citizens Holdings Ltd controls the majority shares – 63.43 per cent – in First Citizens Group, which is the parent company of First Citizens’ Bank Ltd. Other shareholders in First Citizens Group include the public (24.07 per cent), the TT Unit Trust Corporation (3.43 per cent) and the National Insurance Board of TT (8.07 per cent). First Citizens Bank has more than $38 billion in assets with 25 branches in Trinidad, three in Tobago and five in Barbados. It also has a representative office in Costa Rica which handles its Latin American business. In 2013, the bank held an initial public offering (IPO) on the TT Stock Exchange, putting up 48,495,665 shares for sale for $22 a share, with the goal of raising $1.1 billion for the government. In July 2022 the bank offered 10,869,565 ordinary shares at the price of $50. The additional public offering was oversubscribed by 55 per cent. The post First Citizens board set to resign on October 7 appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.