BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has given the okay for Republic Financial Holding Limited to acquire the assets of the Bank of Nova Scotia following consultations with the Monetary Council.
Management of the bank held discussions with the Monetary Council on Friday (Sept. 6) via video conference where it was decided upon for the acquisition to go through.
Republic Financial Holdings – parent company of Republic Bank -proposed a US$123M buyout of Scotia Bank in nine territories, including operations in the Eastern Caribbean.
In a statement Saturday (Sept. 7), the bank indicated that the application was approved for the transfer of assets and liabilities of the Bank of Nova Scotia to Republic Financial Holdings in six of the seven Eastern Caribbean territories, pursuant to Section 43 of the Banking Act
Those approved were Anguilla, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. However, approval has not yet been given for Antigua and Barbuda.
Before the approval was given, the Central Bank undertook a review of the proposed transaction to assess the following:
1. The RFHL’s Strategic Plan 2018-2020;
2. The financial condition of RFHL to support the operations of the acquired banking business of BNS, as well as all of RFHL’s subsidiaries;
3. The implications for the stability of the ECCU banking system; and
4. The technical/human resource capacity of RFHL to effectively govern its subsidiaries across multiple jurisdictions.
In completing its assessment, the ECCB consulted with the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT), RFHL’s home regulator.
ECCB noted that the approval granted to the RFHL is subject to the condition that RFHL would be required to make a stake of its ECCU operations available to the people of the ECCU through approved ECCU entities.
Meanwhile, the bank said discussions are ongoing over the future of the Scotia Bank operation’s in St. John’s.
That announcement came as Prime Minister Gaston Brown had publicly announced his disapproval over the4 sale of the operations in Antigua and Barbuda. However, Scotia Bank has threatened to leave the market if the sale does not go through.
