Coutts Trustees (Bahamas) Limited will be closing down by early next year, ending a 67 year presence of the UK bank in The Bahamas and putting three Bahamians out of work, according to senior officials in the bank’s UK headquarters.
Chris Burton, Chief Executive of Coutts’ offshore business, told the Bahama Journal on Wednesday that within the next six months, the more than $45 million managed by its operations here in Nassau will be transferred to the Cayman Islands.
Mr. Burton said that after a strategic review of the bank’s offshore business, executives decided to close their smaller offices in The Bahamas, Bermuda and Guernsey.
Offices in the Isle of Man, Jersey and the Cayman Islands will remain in operation.
“It was a very difficult decision,” Mr. Burton said. “We don’t take these kinds of decisions lightly, but under the circumstances we think it is the right thing for the business.”
The Coutts name first came to The Bahamas in 1936.
A few years ago, the company sold the majority of its business to S. G. Hambros Bank and Trust (Bahamas) Limited.
Subsequently, Coutts merged with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which had a presence here in Nassau.
Minister of Financial Services and Investments Allyson Maynard-Gibson said that in the financial services industry The Bahamas will lose some business, but gain other business.
She said the government’s concern is that the Bahamian staff of Coutts is properly remunerated for their job losses.
“I will be looking forward in my discussions with Coutts to understand what is happening to their staff, what packages have been paid, if any, and how they have been redeployed into other areas of the financial services industry,” Minister Maynard-Gibson said.
Mrs. Maynard-Gibson maintained, however, that The Bahamas must diversify its financial sector.
“I think we should focus on how do we grow other sectors of the financial services sector,” she said. “We’re going to grow in the funds market and administration and back office is definitely one of those things we need to focus on.”
The Minister added that FirstCaribbean International Bank – which has been at the centre of controversy regarding administrative changes it has made since coming into being late last year (after the merger of Barclays Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) – is growing its back office here in The Bahamas.
“It is going to be the head of the region and that’s good to have such a significant institution doing that here and we can find ways to have others recognizing The Bahamas as strong in that area,” Minister Maynard-Gibson said.
By Julian Reid, The Bahama Journal
