Jamaican bank targets UK SMEs
(29 March 2016 – United Kingdom) Jamaican based National Commercial Bank (NCB) has revealed that it recently started targeting small businesses in the UK to secure loans locally through its retail banking division.
In a bid to expand its loan portfolio, it is the latest bank from the Caribbean to focus on offshore small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
"The broadened focus of the UK operations is to target the SME sector in the UK. Previously, this arm of the retail business concentrated on the remittance of pensions as well as administrative support to NCB customers living in the UK," the bank stated in its annual report, released last week.
For the 2016 financial year the retail arm expects to "focus on credit expansion to the SME segment:, it said. The retail banking division made US$1.9 billion (A$2.5 billion) in operating profit on revenues of $17.2 billion for the 2015 financial year, a 14 percent increase on 2014 figures.
Addressing the bank's annual general meeting, Patrick Hylton, group managing director of NCB, said that the bank faces competition from “quasi-financial institutions” which are entering into the lending space.
"Another challenge facing us as an industry is the rise of disruptive technologies, locally and internationally, which has made the market increasingly competitive and splintered. Transactions, once the exclusive domain of the local commercial banks, are being offered or will soon be offered by quasi-financial service providers," Hylton said.
"As an organisation, we keep a close eye on these developments and factor them into our business strategy. The truth is that as much as the changes may be disruptive on the one hand, they present significant opportunities on the other hand. We are alert to these opportunities and are focused on executing on them," he added.
The group made US$12.3 billion in net profit in last year, down from US$12.32 billion in 2014, with the loss attributed to increased taxation.
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