CIBC reports solid half-year revenue

he economies of the region are returning to pre-pandemic growth levels, and CIBC Caribbean says this situation is among the contributing factors to its “solid” performance for the first half of its financial year.

The Barbados-headquartered regional financial institution recently released its six-months unaudited consolidated statement of comprehensive income for the period ending April 30.

The financials for the group showed net income for the period of US$152.02 million (BDS$308.04 million). This compared favourably to the US$144.58 million (BDS$289.16 million) achieved for the comparable period in 2023.

Of the last quarter results, the banking group recorded US$67.40 million (BDS$134.80 million), this was down from the comparable quarter last year of US$76.49 million (BDS$152.98 million).

In his commentary on the institution’s performance for the quarter, chief executive officer Mark St Hill remarked that CIBC Caribbean benefited from the increased revenue due to “higher net interest margin” on the bank’s US dollar loan portfolio.

In addition, with regional economies on the upswing follow the collapses from the pandemic, the CEO said the bank had lowered its provision for credit losses and boosted its “account recovery efforts”.

As far as the CEO and board of directors are concerned, CIBC Caribbean “continues to create value for its stakeholders in the current operating environment”.

Moreover, the region’s largest commercial bank outlined its ongoing emphasis on leveraging its digital infrastructure, investments, and client experience enhancements to position CIBC Caribbean for the future.

According to St Hill: “Market conditions in the region underpin the Bank’s growth momentum, as most countries have reached pre-pandemic levels of economic activity. The regional growth outlook is forecasted to continue through the medium-term, albeit at a moderate pace.”

While indicating the bank’s confidence in the local and regional economies, St Hill told stakeholders, however, “we continue to closely monitor downside risks related to the global economy, inflation, supply chain disruption and interest rates”.

The CIBC chief executive added: “We continue to maintain disciplined risk management. We have also experienced higher operating expenses year over year due to ongoing strategic investments, employee-related costs and inflationary pressure.”

Over the past two years, CIBC has been disposing of some of its banking assets in the Northern and Eastern Caribbean. In this latest filing, the bank indicated that in May, it completed the sale of its banking assets in Curacao, while the sale of assets in St Maarten was “still in progress” subject to regulatory conditions but it anticipated that disposal would take place in 2025.

(IMC1)