FirstCaribbean Launch Date Brought Forward, Report Reveals

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

14 October 2002

Following an announcement made at the beginning of October which stated that, due to the delay of certain legal documentation, the launch of FirstCaribbean International Bank (a joint venture between Barclays Bank PLC and CIBC) was being postponed until the end of the month, it has now emerged that the launch date has been put forward - to today!

Speaking to Cayman Net News, Tom Crawford, director of CIBC Cayman Limited made no mention of the changed launch date, but stated that neither customers nor staff of the two banks will notice any immediate changes:

''It will be business as usual in the sense that CIBC customers will continue to go to CIBC and Barclays customers will continue to go to Barclays. There will be no changing of the signs for a while and there will be no immediate dislocation of staff from either of the two banks,' he explained. 'But from a legal perspective it will be FirstCaribbean International Bank in operation.'

Also speaking to the Cayman-based news service, Michael Mansoor, President and CEO of CIBC West Indies and CEO-designate of FirstCaribbean explained that: 'We are delighted to announce that we have now received the necessary approvals to proceed with the combination of our operations and create FirstCaribbean International Bank.'

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