First Citizens Bank
First Citizens Bank is a bank based in Trinidad and Tobago. First Citizens has assets of over TT$15 billion, 22 branches in Trinidad and two on Tobago. It wholly owns First Citizens (St. Lucia) Limited, which it established as an offshore financial vehicle for the Bank and its subsidiaries and also to conduct selected banking and financial service operations in the Caribbean Region.
History
On September 13, 1993 the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago merged three government-owned entities, National Commercial Bank (NCB), the Trinidad Co-operative Bank (TCB), and the Workers' Bank to form First Citizens Bank.
- NCB formally commenced business in 1970. Bank of Montreal sold its branch and operations in Trinidad and Tobago, which it had acquired from Bank of London and Montreal, to the government, which used the acquisition as the foundation for National Commercial Bank. National Commercial Bank was the first truly locally owned, controlled and operated commercial bank in Trinidad and Tobago. It eventually grew its branch network to cover the entire country, but by 1992 the Inspector of Banks deemed NCB financially unsound and its shares almost worthless as its bad debts amounted to about T$1 billion.
- TCB, founded in 1914 as a co-operative savings and loans institution, pioneered the provision of consumer finance and home mortgages for the then working-class of Port of Spain. It ran into difficulties and in 1986 the government took it over.
- The predecessor of Workers Bank, which commenced operations in 1971, had its roots in the trade union and credit union movements, and helped develop the home mortgage market. It was essentially bankrupt by 1989 and had to be reorganized. Still, by 1993 it had over T$800 million in bad debts.
Website
https://www.firstcitizenstt.com/index.html
References