Hylton, Cohen exit NCB with ‘materially impactful’ exit packages

The men who lead Jamaica’s largest banking group for two decades have officially cut ties with the institution and indications are it came at a big price, four months after the principal owner Michael Lee-Chin took charge of the group and installed new leadership.

NCB Financial Group Limited, the operator of National Commercial Bank Jamaica, said in a market filing that former President and CEO Patrick Hylton and former Deputy CEO and Chief Financial Officer Dennis Cohen both officially exited the bank on Monday, November 13, 2023.

NCB did not disclose the size of the settlement reached with the two men.

“The related separation arrangements include cash payments and arrangements for the allotment of shares, and the costs will have a material impact on the performance of the company,” it said.

At the time of their departure, the two men shared in annual salaries of $3 billion per year.

The cost of their exit package is booked in the quarter ended September 2023, NCB Financial indicated in its filing on Monday. Those financial results are pending.

Hylton and Cohen also resigned as directors of NCB Financial and other boards within the group, it said.

The men were initially sent on leave in mid-July and replaced by interim CEO Robert Almeida and CFO Malcolm Sadler.

One of the bones of contention for Lee-Chin, who is chairman of the banking group and its majority owner, was the absence of dividend payments since 2021.

The NCB Financial board is expected to make a decision on Friday about the about the date and size of the next dividend, which Lee-Chin had previously said would be paid before year end.

On Tuesday, the NCBFG stock closed gained 1.3 per cent to close at $71.92. The price has been on the rise since the banking group announced it would making a decision on a dividend payment and the expected departure of Hylton and Cohen did not derail its rise.

NCB Financial’s market value currently stands at $177 billion.

business@gleanerjm.com