Republic Bank reports near 50% rise

Shareholders of Republic Bank Group, which incorporates the operations of Republic Bank Barbados, saw a near 50 per cent jump in profits to the tune of US$195.8 million (BDS $391.6 million) for the financial year ended September 30, 2021.

In its recently published audited annual group results, Republic Bank reported profit attributable to equity holders of the parent company of US $195.8 million for the year.

According to the financial institution, although this performance was 17.3 per cent or US$40.9 million below the 2019 results, it was an improvement of 44.7 per cent or US$60.5 million more than the performance of 2020.

The Port-of-Spain based regional bank which acquired the assets of the Bank of Nova Scotia in several Caribbean territories had total assets of US$16.34 billion and liabilities of US $14.41 billion.

In comments to the financial highlights, chairman Vincent Pereira said in 2021 Republic Bank and its subsidiaries supported clients across all the territories it operates in through loan deferrals, reduced interest rates and discounted fees as a way of easing the financial difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The financial impact of this was reduced revenues and increased costs across the Group. Our overall performance was bolstered to some extent by the full year’s contribution of our new subsidiary in the British Virgin Islands, notable improvements in Ghana and the Cayman Islands, and lower levels of provisioning,” Pereira added.

According to the chairman, during the 2021 financial year the Republic group “made meaningful steps towards” its sustainability initiative through alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“In April 2021, we joined a group of leading global commercial banks as founding signatories to the United Nations-convened Net Zero Banking Alliance. In June 2021, we announced our US$200 million Climate Finance Goal to finance activities that reduce the impact of climate change and create environmental solutions in collaboration with our clients,” the chairman added.

Republic Bank group declared a final dividend of US$0.45 per share and this was an increase on the 2020 pay out of US$0.31 per share. This year’s final dividend represents US$97.7 million.

The bank said the share payment, which will be made on December 1, reflected the increase in profitability this year. (IMC1)