FirstCaribbean International Bank, a publicly held Caribbean financial services company based in Barbados, has had a significant improvement in performance for the three months ended January 31, 2016, with net income of US$38.7 million, up from US$26.6 million for the corresponding period last year.
The bank's total revenue was US$138.2 million, up US$8.3 million or six per cent from the same period in 2015, which CEO Gary Brown said was "primarily due to lower funding costs, higher loan earnings and higher operating income."
Commenting on the results, which were posted on the T&T Stock Exchange yesterday, Brown said: "Productive loan growth has started to show some encouraging signs despite economies being slow to recover and sustained credit demand not yet returning to the region.
Sustained, profitable growth remains a key priority for the bank."
FirstCaribbean's operating expenses of US$90.4 million were up by US$5.3 million from the corresponding period in 2015. Brown said this was "primarily as a result of higher business taxes and project related spend. We continue to benefit from discretionary expense control and ongoing savings from the restructuring program initiated in 2014."
He added; "Loan loss impairment expense was significantly down by US$11.6 million or 74 per cent compared with the same period in the prior year due to an improving loss experience and loan recovery activity.
"Additionally, non-productive loan balances continue to decline as significant focus is placed on further strengthening the quality of our loan portfolio.
"After paying a regular dividend of 2.0 cents (US$0.020) per share along with a special dividend of 6.3 cents (US$0.063) per share in the first quarter, the Bank's Tier 1 and Total Capital ratios still remain strong at 18.2% and 19.5%, well in excess of applicable regulatory requirements."