Republic Bank Limited yesterday announced that it had closed its acquisition of RBC Royal Bank (Suriname) NV through the purchase of Royal Overseas Holdings (St Lucia) Ltd at an estimated cost of US$45.3 million.
The cost of the bank is 14 per cent higher than the US$39.8 million Republic had signalled on April 1, when T&T's largest indigenous bank announced the signing of a share purchase agreement with RBC.
The newly renamed Republic Bank (Suriname) NV begins operations on Monday (August 3) and will have a network of five branches in the capital of Paramaribo and one in Nickerie.
In a statement yesterday, Republic Bank said its new Suriname subsidiary has assets of approximately US$525 million (as at October 31, 2014) and its latest acquisition brings the Republic Bank Group's strategic expansion to nine territories comprising Barbados, Cayman Islands, Cuba, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Guyana, and more recently, Ghana.
"We're very excited about the opportunity to be part of the future development of Suriname and intend to hold true to our tradition of adding value to the countries in which we operate, both on a commercial and community level," Managing Director of Republic Bank, David Dulal-Whiteway stated.
"Undoubtedly, at our core is a culture of providing excellent, innovative customer service. We believe in organic growth and have a well-established institutional track-record of successfully entering new territories, ensuring compliance and integrity, while investing in technology and the development of the country's human resource capabilities."
The group's regional corporate social investment programme, The Power To Make A Difference, focuses on strategically building successful societies through poverty alleviation, health care and youth development in the areas of sport, culture and education. The group has already begun to look for new opportunities in Suriname, the bank said.
In the statement, Republic Bank said Gloria Anthony, its general manager of commercial and retail banking has been appointed as the managing director of the Suriname subsidiary.