Barbados National Bank
A significant rise in net profit amid difficult conditions was what, in the end, catapulted Barbados National Bank (BNB) to the top spot in the judging.
Despite a slight contraction of the local economy, BNB posted a 40% increase in net profit, to $26.1m, last year. At the same time, it improved its ROE to 17.8% in 2002 from 14.3% in 2001 and lowered its cost-to-income ratio to 61.3% from 72.2%.
Last year was an important milestone not only for BNB’s profitability but also for its ownership structure. The Barbados government virtually privatised the bank, selling a 57% stake to the Republic Bank Limited of Trinidad and Tobago (RBTT). The government reduced its stake to 20%.
“The consistent growth of the BNB Group can be attributed to the success in managing our three key focus areas: working to maintain excellence in service, continuous improvement in productivity and in risk management” said managing director and chief executive Louis Greenidge. “This focused approach has greatly assisted us in achieving a consistently good performance in past years and an excellent performance in 2002, when considering the difficult economic conditions under which we operated. In 2002, our net profit increased by 40%, the highest among the commercial banks operating in Barbados.”
