FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited

Chief Executive Officer’s Letter
Our commitment to our shareholders to deliver consistent, sustainable results has been tested during these
economic times. While net income for 2010, US $157 million, declined by 10% from 2009, progress we made
on diversification of income streams and productivity improvements has helped us to build a strong foundation
for future growth, while maintaining a prudent risk profile.
Chief Executive Officer
John D. Orr
While traditional revenue streams were challenged due
to depressed loan and securities volumes and rates we
were able to successfully open up new income streams
bringing fee generating capital markets products and
services to our corporate clients. During the year, the Bank
also took advantage of favourable market conditions and
sold securities from its investment portfolio for gains of US
$33 million.
The credit environment remained difficult throughout
2010, with provisions for loan losses increasing to 0.90%
of loans from 0.61% in 2009. These results were expected
in the context of where we are in the economic cycle.
We continue to work closely with our clients to manage
through the challenges they face.
Through our strong efforts on cost containment and
process reengineering we were able to partially offset the
reduced revenue and deliver a healthy cost-to-revenue
ratio of 57% . In addition, taxation was reduced as a result
of lower income earned in taxable jurisdictions.
Despite the financial performance, 2010 has been
a successful year on many fronts. We have stayed the
course – we have remained focused on delivering against
our mission to our stakeholders and have made great
strides on advancing our five strategies of focusing on
enhancing client value through building long lasting client
relationships, diversification of income streams, strong
balance sheet management, strengthening productivity
and controls and leveraging our membership in the CIBC
Group to enhance our performance on all fronts.
FirstCaribbean has consistently partnered with our clients,
helping them work through tough financial situations with
fresh thinking, innovation and commitment, combined with
disciplined governance. Throughout this stressed economic
cycle we have continued to invest in and enhance our client
experience through the embracing and embedding of a
service culture and the introduction of new products and
process improvements.
This year, FirstCaribbean was the first regional bank to
launch Mobile Banking. Building on last year’s efforts we
continued to enhance internet banking now allowing
clients to apply for products and services online. We have
also upgraded our Automatic Banking Machines (ABMs).
We added to our product portfolio with the
introduction of Visa Debit, CIBC Axiom Portfolios
and commodity derivatives. The Bank also refreshed
its small business product suite to enhance the client
value proposition.
Last year, significant improvement in the end-to-end
loan process was achieved. This year, account opening
was tackled and a new process implemented in the
majority of our markets, reducing opening times by
more than fifty percent.
With our Helpful Partner standards embedded, the
Bank took another step in continuous improvement of
our service culture with the launch of our ServiceFirst
programme. This initiative aims to raise the bar in client
service and will be rolled out across the organisation in the
coming year.
Most important to our continued success is a focused,
client centric work force. In these trying times, leadership
is essential to creating and maintaining an environment
that allows all our employees to excel. We are committed
to building strong leaders and a supportive environment
and to that end, have continued to invest in developing
and retaining our dedicated employees. We continue to
attract a number of dynamic, young individuals to our
franchise, bringing with them enthusiasm, energy and
ideas, critical to delivering on our commitment to service
excellence and innovation.
As the recovering global economies gain traction, we
expect to see the beginnings of economic growth in our
region during 2011. Our commitment to our strategic
priorities has positioned us well to capture growth
opportunities as the economic climate improves.
John D. Orr
Chief Executive Officer
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