Intercommercial to open fourth branch

Intercommercial Bank Ltd (IBL) will open its fourth branch in Tunapuna by April, install several standalone ATMs across T&T and introduce linx cards as part of its strategy to bolster its customer base. So said Krishna Boodhai, managing director and chief executive officer at the company.

In addition, IBL intends to include mobile and Internet banking services for its tech-savvy clients, while improving the services for customers in possession of its visa international debit card. The introduction of credit cards is also in the works. With the infrastructure for these undertakings already in place, Boodhai said the investment was designed to move the bank from small to medium over the next two years, but he declined to reveal cost of this expansion project.

Speaking to the media at Thursday’s Customer Appreciation function held at the bank’s Independence Square branch in Port-of-Spain, he made it clear that based on the level of investment required, the bank was in a position to comfortably proceed with its expansion plan.

“We are very optimistic about fiscal year 2013-2014 on the basis of some of the provisions in the national budget. We are already seeing signs where a number of customers are seeking to go into residential and commercial real estate based on incentives. Outside of that we are already seeing a pick up on the consumer side for us and on the corporate lending side,” he said.

Boodhai said they were seeing, generally, a willingness by customers to take risk in anticipation of the impending growth. “The governor of the Central Bank recently indicated expected growth by about two-and-a-half per cent and we are optimistic that the economy will show positive signs. We are already in place to take advantage of that growth in the economy.”