Friday, January 22, 2010
NCB gives 100% acceptance in GOJ Debt Exchange
National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited and its major subsidiaries, NCB Capital Markets and NCB Insurance Co. Ltd, have today, at special sittings of the respective boards, formally accepted the government’s Debt Exchange offer, three days after the official launch of the programmme.
“As we have said publicly before, we believe the main objective of the debt exchange programme – to reduce the interest cost burden on our government, and ultimately our country – can only be achieved with the support of the financial sector. NCB therefore has been cooperating closely with the government in the implementation of this programme.” stated NCB Group Managing Director, Patrick Hylton.
Mr. Hylton continued, “we believe a lower interest rate environment will provide revenue opportunities such as more affordable access to credit by our customers. That, coupled with our ongoing focus on improving efficiency in all areas of our business, will see us continuing to ensure our customers are well served and that the group maintains strong and profitable operations.”
The acceptance will result in NCB and its subsidiaries exchanging 100% of its J$ and locally issued US$ government securities maturing after February 16, 2010. Those securities represent 16% of the Bank’s Total Assets and will now provide lower income yields.