Bank's St Catherine branch to close

FirstCaribbean Bank Jamaica is to close its Lluidas Vale sub-agency tomorrow, a move that was being contemplated for some time now according to information received by Wednesday Business.

"(We) wanted to do it for some time now but didn't do it because we thought we could turn it around," said Christopher Denny, manager for retail banking and branch network at FirstCaribbean Bank Jamaica.

"It's now just being considered and being a remote area, (we) thought it best," he said, directing further queries to managing director Nigel Holness, who took up his post on September 1 to allow for a smooth transition following Clovis Metcalfe's planned retirement in December 2010.

Holness did not return contact up to press time and was said to be out of office at meetings.

Closure date

The closure of the agency will become effective September 30 with customers being asked to access their account at the King Street branch or any of the bank's other 12 branches.

The Lliudas Vale agency located in St Catherine has been in operation for over three years. It forms part of FirstCaribbean Bank Jamaica's network of 18 branches and office centres plus 16 automated banking machines.

FirstCaribbean Bank Jamaica is ranked the fourth largest commercial bank out of a total of seven now existing in the market.

At the end of the nine-month period up to July 2010, the bank reported net income of $379 million, a 51 per cent decline compared to the same period last year. The bank's loans and deposit base also continued to be adversely affected by the downturn in the level of economic activity. As a listed company on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, it last traded at $13.28, with shares outstanding valued at approximately $3.5 billion.

Last year October, First-Caribbean closed its Newport West branch, merging the operation with its King Street operation. At that time, too, no reason was given for the closure. It's newest bank in Portmore was subsequently opened for business in November of last year.