BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – General Manager of the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank, Edmund Lawrence has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the recently established financial entity now in control of the failing Bank of Antigua (BoA).
Lawrence’s appointment was announced last week at the official launch of the Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Financial Company Limited (ECAFC) an amalgamation of indigenous banks of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) together with participation from the Government of Antigua-Barbuda.
Banks include the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank, Antiguan Commercial Bank Ltd, the East Caribbean Financial Holding Company Limited, the National Commercial Bank (SVG) Limited and the National Bank of Dominica Ltd.
The new company serves to oversee the creation of the Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank (ECAB) and will run the BoA until the legal arrangements are put in place for the final sale to that new entity.
The ECAFC was founded in late February following the announcement of Bank of Antigua’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Allen Stanford’s billion-dollar fraud charges in the US. News of this development caused hundreds of the bank’s depositors in Antigua to immediately withdraw funds forcing the institution to face liquidation difficulties. Financial experts immediately agreed to establish the ECAFC to protect the depositors and prevent the island’s economy from further financial shock.
Lawrence has headed the federation’s indigenous bank since it was established as a public limited company in February 1971. Over the ensuing years, Lawrence has transformed the financial institution into one of the most profitable in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. The National Bank Group of Companies now comprises of the commercial bank, the National Trust Company (St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla) Ltd.
National Caribbean Insurance Company Ltd. (NCI) and St. Kitts and Nevis Mortgage and Investment Company Limited.
Although full details of the BoA take-over arrangement have not yet been made public, the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank is expected to own 15% of the shares in the newly formed company.
