PanCaribbeanBank cuts prime rate to 16.9%
Published:Sunday | November 28, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Another commercial bank will be slashing its base lending rate as of December 1. PanCaribbeanBank Limited, the smallest of seven banks by assets, has announced that it will be cutting its Jamaican dollar prime lending rate by 55 basis points to 16.90 per cent.
The boutique bank joins larger players, Scotiabank, which is reducing its prime rate to 16.75, and FirstCaribbean Jamaica, whose new rate is 16.85 per cent, down 140 basis points, to adjust rates as pressure builds from businesses, Finance Minister Audley Shaw, and now the central bank, to bring down the cost of credit.
Those changes also take effect December 1.
On Friday, PanCaribbeanBank said it was reducing rates to be competitive.
"In keeping our commitment to clients to be competitive, PanCaribbeanBank was the first commercial bank to reduce rates in 2009 and has since sliced rates four times for a total reduction of 450 basis points," said Philip Armstrong, the bank's managing director.
"If conditions warrant, and the BOJ continues to be proactive, we will adjust accordingly," he said.
PanCaribbeanBank, which has assets of J$14 billion and a loan portfolio of J$6.7 billion, is the commercial banking arm of Pan Caribbean Financial Services Limited, a financial-services group which provides investment-banking products, along with wealth and asset-management services.