A New CEO takes over at First Caribbean

John D. Orr

Mr. Orr spent 13 years holding increasingly senior roles at FirstCaribbean’s parent company, CIBC and CIBC World Markets in Toronto, culminating as Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Head of International Retail Banking and Deputy Head of Corporate Development.  

In his role as Head of CIBC's International Retail Banking operations, he was responsible for CIBC's Caribbean and Asian businesses.  CIBC Caribbean is active in the fund and trust administration markets, with operations in The Cayman Islands and The Bahamas, while CIBC Asia is a provider of banking and investment management services for high net worth individuals. 
 
As Deputy Head of Corporate Development, he played a key role in a number of large transactions for CIBC including the acquisition of Barclays’ ownership stake in FirstCaribbean at the end of 2006. 

Previously, Mr. Orr was CEO of Amicus Bank, which has more than 2.1 million retail banking clients across Canada.  He also held a number of positions in the investment and merchant banking units of CIBC World Markets.

In welcoming Mr. Orr to FirstCaribbean, Chairman, Michael Mansoor, noted: “I have worked with John for several years and know he has the right combination of skills to lead FirstCaribbean at the current stage of our company’s development and in the present economic environment, which will be more challenging than in previous years.”   ~~Adz:Right~~

Mr. Orr expressed his own pleasure at joining FirstCaribbean. “I am looking forward to the challenges and opportunities of this new role. The FirstCaribbean management team has achieved great success during the last few years and I have deep respect for the strong and successful bank they have built.”

Over the next several months Mr. Orr will be visiting the various parts of the FirstCaribbean business, meeting with staff, customers, government officials and Regulators.

Ends

About FirstCaribbean International Bank
FirstCaribbean is a major Caribbean bank offering a full range of market-leading financial services in Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, Wealth Management, Credit Cards, Treasury and Capital Markets.  Formed in 2002, it is a member of the CIBC Group and is the largest, regionally-listed bank in the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean, with assets of over US$12 billion and market capitalization of US$3 billion.  The Bank has over 3,500 staff; over 100 branches, banking centres, and offices in 17 regional markets, and serves 800,000 active accounts. 

Every year from 2004 to 2008, FirstCaribbean was named “Best Emerging Market Bank” by Global Finance magazine of New York. Since inception, the bank has also received several industry awards for excellence from, Euromoney Magazine, Latin Finance Magazine, and The Banker magazine.

Through the FirstCaribbean International Comtrust Foundation, FirstCaribbean dedicates 1% of its annual prior year profits (pre-tax) to Community Partnership in the countries where it operates.
 
More information about FirstCaribbean can be found at: www.firstcaribbeanbank.com