CIBC Caribbean is a financial services company based in

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

and the Caribbean

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). The bank was founded in 2002 as FirstCaribbean International Bank through the merger of the Caribbean operations of Barclays Bank and CIBC, and in March 2006 both CIBC and Barclays announced that Barclays wished to exercise their option to exit the Caribbean venture completely resulting in CIBC gaining majority-control of the bank. In June 2011, it was announced the bank would be renamed CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank "to be more closely aligned to the CIBC brand, while still maintaining the FirstCaribbean name and local identity." The name was then later changed CIBC Caribbean in January 2024. The majority of the bank's revenues are generated by its operations in

, the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

and the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

History

Prior to 2002, the operations of what is now CIBC Caribbean were run as the separate businesses of Barclays Bank and CIBC West Indies, part of CIBC's group of companies. Barclays had been active in the region since 1836 and CIBC's foray into the region began with branches in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

in 1920. In March 2006, CIBC officials announced their intention of buying majority control of their publicly held

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

joint venture the FirstCaribbean International Bank. The deal costing just over US$1billion ( Bds$2 billion) would purchase the current 43.7% owned by Barclays Bank PLC and would raise CIBC's current ownership to 87.4%, from 43.7%. Upon closure of the deal, the top four Caribbean commercial banks would be consolidated merely to a top three, with those being Scotiabank, the FirstCaribbean International Bank, and the

Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; ) is a Canadian multinational Financial institution, financial services company and the Big Five (banks), largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 20 million clients and has more than ...

with a possible distant fourth-place bank varying in each territory. Following the deal, the regional head-office for FCIB was expected to remain located in

, with that regional centre continuing to report to the Toronto CIBC head-office. The deal closed on December 23, 2006.

CIBC absorbs Barclays share (2006)

On March 13, 2006, CIBC and Barclays announced that they had signed a non-binding letter of intent enabling CIBC to acquire 43.7% of the shares of FCIB from Barclays. Upon completion of the transaction, CIBC's ownership was to increase to approximately 87.4% of FCIB. CIBC announced on 22 December 2006 that it had purchased 599,401,230 shares of FirstCaribbean from Barclays for US$988,652,389 (representing US$1.62 per share plus accrued but unpaid dividends). Barclays also retained their option to tender all or a part of the remaining holdings of 66,600,137 shares. Thereafter, CIBC proceeded with a mandatory purchase offer to all remaining shareholders at US$1.62 per share and wound up holding 91.5% of First Caribbean International Bank. CIBC Caribbean is not the only

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

controlled bank in the region: Scotiabank, and the

also have extensive commercial banking businesses in the region and treat the region as a native market.

Cancelled plans for United States IPO (2018)

In March 2018, CIBC announced that it had filed a Registration Statement on Form F-1 with the

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relating to a proposed

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) in the United States of CIBC FirstCaribbean's common shares on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. Through the IPO, CIBC would divest itself of most of its 91.5% stake in FCIB to refocus capital and management resources on its other North American operations. Due to a lack of interest in the American markets for CIBC's share, for "US$240-million by offering 9.6 million shares", the application for an IPO was withdrawn by CIBC on April 19, 2018.

Regulatory failure for proposed sale to GNB (2021)

CIBC, which owned in February 2021 nearly 92 per cent of FCIB, announced in late 2019 a transaction by which it would sell its share in FCIB to " GNB Financial Group, a company run by Colombian banker and real estate developer Jaime Gilinski." The transaction "failed to win regulators' approval because of uncertainty about the buyer". According to one report, "GNB Financial agreed to pay US$200-million in cash, and CIBC had promised to finance the rest of the purchase price, keeping a 24.9-per-cent stake in FirstCaribbean in the process... The lead regulator reviewing the deal was the Central Bank of Barbados, with additional oversight from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank." The CIBC is in a hunt for capital to increase its CET1 ratio.

Locations

CIBC Caribbean has branches in the following Caribbean countries and territories: * * * * * * *: * * * * CIBC Caribbean previously held branches in the following Caribbean countries and territories: * * *: * * *

Offshore

As well as providing financial services to residents of the Caribbean countries where it operates, CIBC Caribbean is also a provider of offshore financial services to non-residents.

Membership

CIBC Caribbean is a member of various

Bankers Association The American Bankers Association (ABA) is an American trade association for the Banking in the United States, U.S. banking industry, founded in 1875. They Banking lobby, lobby for banks of all sizes and bank charters, including community banks, r ...

s throughout the

region. Additionally CIBC also offers a co-branded

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

VISA-Classic, Gold or Platinum credit card for students, alumni and staff. CIBC Caribbean is also a member of: * MasterCard Worldwide * VISA International * Maestro ATM Network * CarIFS ATM Network * MultiLink Network ATM network CIBC Caribbean is listed on the Barbados Stock Exchange and the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange;FCI listing - Barbados Stock Exchange
/ref> and was formerly listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, Bahamas Securities Exchange, and Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchanges.

References

External links

News and articles

FirstCaribbean continues to work with regional unions
- June 15, 2007: Barbados Advocate * - May 10, 2007: The Broad Street Journal online
FirstCaribbean to invest US$9m in new Barbados Bank Business Centre
- July 4, 2006: Barbados Advocate
CIBC takes control
- March 20, 2006: Trinidad and Tobago Express
'Excellent year' for First Caribbean
- December 23, 2005: Jamaica Observer daily news
ABN AMRO’s banking operations in Curaçao to join with FirstCaribbean International Bank
- November 24, 2005: Caribbean Net News
FirstCaribbean exceeds US$4 billion loan mark
- Thursday, April 28, 2005: Caribbean Net News {{DEFAULTSORT:CIBC Firstcaribbean International Bank Banks of Barbados Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Companies listed on the Barbados Stock Exchange 2002 establishments in Barbados Barclays Banks established in 2002 Companies in the TTSE Composite