Barbados Today

CIBC FirstCaribbean has recorded its highest quarterly net income since the second quarter of fiscal year 2010, improving its net intake by nearly 50 per cent, the bank said in a release announcing its third-quarter performance results for 2015.

CIBC said it continued to deliver solid results against its strategic objectives of accelerating profitable revenue growth and improving operational efficiency by recording net income of US$34.8 million in the third quarter, up US$11.4 million or 49 per cent when compared to the same period for the previous year.

For the nine-month period which ended July 31, 2015 net income was US$87 million, up US$31.9 million or 58 per cent over the previous year’s adjusted net income of US$55.1 million.

Total revenue during the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 increased by US$7.1 million. However, total revenue over the nine-month period was down US$7.9 million, “primarily due to lower interest earnings from loans and securities”.

The bank said some countries continued to experience low credit demand, while interest margins on loans and securities yields were lower.

While the balances on productive loans were down slightly over the previous year, an improved performance over the second quarter of 2015 was recorded, with US$80.6 million in loan growth as a larger proportion of the sales pipeline converted into productive loans during the latter half of this quarter, the bank indicated in the release.

It said operating expenses over the nine-month period were down by US$3.0 million, compared with the same period last year “as we continue to benefit from expense control initiatives and savings from our restructuring programme.”

Loan loss impairment expense was significantly lower by US$43.1 million compared with the previous period’s adjusted expense of US$77.9 million due to an improvement in the loss experience and recovery activity.

Additionally, non-productive loan balances were down 18 per cent to US$651 million, compared with the same period last year.

“CIBC FirstCaribbean continues to make a number of investments across the region pursuing its growth objectives while also demonstrating its continuing commitment to the Caribbean,” the financial institution said in its statement.

The Bank recently announced that its Rendezvous Branch would be converted into “a first-class sales centre” catering to Platinum Banking, Business Banking, Corporate and International Banking customers. (PR)