What is now the financial giant National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited, first began when the Colonial Bank of London, England, commenced operations in Jamaica at Harbour Street, Kingston in 1837. By 1925, there were 11 branches island-wide. In 1925, the Colonial Bank together with two other banks, were acquired by Barclays Bank of London. The new organization was incorporated as Barclays Bank (Dominion Colonial and Overseas), which later became Barclays Bank D.C.O.
In 1975, Barclays Bank D.C.O. (through its successor company, Barclays Bank International Limited), transferred its Jamaican operation to a wholly owned subsidiary, Barclays Bank of Jamaica Limited.
August 1977, saw the Jamaican Government acquiring all the shares of Barclays Bank of Jamaica Limited and changing its name to National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB). At that time, NCB had the second largest banking operation in the island with total assets of more that $236 million. Since 1978, NCB has had a strong record of growth and profitability. April 24, 1981 heralded the launching of the first Jamaican credit card "Keycard" and in 1983, NCB became the first Jamaican bank to have deposits in excess of $1.0 billion with assets then exceeding $1.3 billion.
On 16 September 1985, a holding company, N.C.B. Group Limited, was incorporated in order to reorganize the structure of NCB and its subsidiaries. NCB Group subsequently acquired all the issued share capital of NCB and its subsidiaries. On June 30, 1986, National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ), a Government owned company, acquired the entire issued share capital of NCB Group.
Another significant milestone was reached in November 1986 when the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ), offered for sale 30,600,000 ordinary shares of $1.00 each in NCB Group, of which 26,683,560 were offered to the public at $2.95 per share and the remainder was made available to the Trustees of the Employee Share Scheme. The Company was listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on December 23, 1986.
By an agreement dated March 28, 1991, NIBJ sold a further 6,000,000 ordinary shares of $1.00 each to the Trustees of the Employee Share Scheme.
In December 1991, restrictions barring any person or connected group of persons from having an interest in more than 7 1/2% of the issued capital of NCB Group, were removed by an Act of Parliament, The N.C.B. Group Limited (Alteration of Memorandum and Articles of Association) Act, 1991.
By an agreement dated February 28 1992, NIBJ sold the remaining 23,395,420 shares of $1.00 each in the Company (39%) to Jamaica M&N Investments Limited, a company then owned jointly by Jamaica Mutual Life Assurance Society and Jamaica National Building Society and which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Mutual Life.
In August 1992, the Company made a bonus issue of 3 ordinary shares of $1.00 each for every 1 ordinary stock unit of $1.00 previously in issue. The issue was made through the capitalization of $180 million from the capital reserve. Each stock unit in issue after this bonus issue was subsequently divided into 2 stock units of 50 cents each.
On July 16, 1993, there was a rights issue of 10 million ordinary shares to stockholders on record as at July 5, 1993. The issue was fully underwritten by the West Indies Trust Company in its capacity as Trustee of the NCB Employees Pension Fund. Approximately two-thirds of the shares comprised in the rights issue was taken up by the underwriters. By virtue of this rights issue, the number of issued shares in the Company increased to 490,000,000 ordinary stock units of 50 cents each.
In August 1993, the Company made a take-over bid to acquire all of the issued capital of Mutual Security Bank Limited (previously a subsidiary of Mutual Life), by way of an exchange of shares at the rate of 4 NCB Group stock units for every 3 MSB stock units held and on the basis that odd shares be acquired for cash at the rate of $12.00 per share. In response to the take-over bid, acceptances were received from MSB stockholders, holding 95.6% of its shares. The remainders of the MSB shares were subsequently compulsory acquired in accordance with section 195 (1) of the Companies Act. In total, 210,602,656 NCB Group shares were issued to acquire the stock units of MSB.
In 1996, NCB merged with Mutual Security Bank Jamaica Limited, thus becoming a dominant force in the financial sector.
On 8th November 2000 NCB Group Shareholders approved a Scheme of Arrangement put forward by the NCB Group Board, and as a result, received one ordinary share in the Bank in exchange for each ordinary share held in NCB Group Limited.
On 4th December 2000, the Bank shares became tradable on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, replacing the old NCB Group Limited shares. National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited is the new parent Company of the reorganised NCB Banking Group, the other companies being, NCB (Investments) Ltd., Omni Insurance Services Ltd., Edward Gayle and Co. Ltd., West Indies Trust Co. Ltd., Data Cap Processing Ltd., NCB Jamaica (Nominees) Ltd., and NCB Cayman Ltd., all of which are financial service entities.
A new era began for NCB on March 19, 2002, when AIC Limited, Canada's largest privately held mutual fund Company, acquired just over 75% of the shareholding in the bank from FINSAC. With this acquisition, NCB's ownership structure became clearly defined.
AIC Limited is the 11th largest mutual fund company in Canada, and in 2001 the company held more than J$445 billion under management for approximately 1 million Canadians. Michael Lee-Chin, a Jamaican-Canadian, is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AIC Limited and owns 90 percent of the company, with the remaining 10 percent being owned by staff. Mr. Lee-Chin's roots are deeply embedded in Jamaica, as his family operates the very successful supermarket chain, Super Plus.
NCB is now a strong and secure organization and its capital base is one of the largest in Jamaica. The new owners have committed the resources of AIC Limited towards the success of the organization
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