(Jamaica) Limited - FirstCaribbean International Bank

notes to the Financial Statements
Year Ended 31 October 2009
(Expressed in Jamaican dollars unless otherwise indicated)
31. Commitments
(a) Future rental commitments under operating leases
At 31 October 2009, the Bank held leases on buildings for extended periods. The future rental commitments under
these leases were as follows:
Group and Bank
2009 2008
$’000 $’000
Not later than 1 year 186,087 166,352
Later than 1 year and less than 5 years 171,376 305,339
Later than 5 years – –
357,463 471,691
(b) Other
The following table indicates the contractual amounts of off-balance sheet financial instruments that commit the
Group and the Bank to extend credit to customers.
The Group
The Bank
2009 2008 2009 2008
$’000 $’000 $’000 $’000
Guarantees and indemnities 575,242 678,156 575,242 678,156
Letters of credit 1,045,778 950,915 1,045,778 950,915
Loan commitments 4,910,509 5,503,030 3,872,044 3,785,440
6,531,529 7,132,101 5,493,064 5,414,511
32. Contingencies
The Group, because of the nature of its businesses, is subject to various threatened or filed legal actions. At 31 October
2009 material claims filed amounted to approximately $2,036,169,000 (2008 - $2,140,392,000). The majority of
this amount relates to a specific counter claim of approximately $1,995,467,000 (2008 - $1,993,155,000), filed by a
former customer against the Bank. Another counter claim was brought against the former customer by the Bank for
approximately $417,818,000 (2008 – $359,656,000). Although the amount of the ultimate exposure, if any, cannot
be determined at this time, the Directors are of the opinion, based upon the advice of counsel, that the final outcome of
threatened or filed suits will not have a material adverse effect on the financial position of the Group.
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