Bahamas - FirstCaribbean International Bank

Group Chief Executive Officer’s ReportThese synergies are the return on totalrestructuring and Integration costs of some $76million for the FirstCaribbean Group, whichcontinues to be expected to be incurred in thesame three years.The sources of these synergies include:• The rationalisation of Head Officefunctions. Our target is to complete thisprocess within four months of thecombination.• The rationalisation of IT infrastructureincluding replacing the former BarclaysIT systems with the former CIBC’srecently upgraded ICBS system, andreplacing the former Barclays VSATcommunication system with the formerCIBC’s Frame Relay system. The latterhas already been completed. The bulk ofour technology integration effort hasbeen outsourced to Computer SciencesCorporation.• The rationalization of operationalprocessing, including leveraging thebenefits of the ICBS system for greatercentralisation and re-engineering ofprocesses.To ensure focus and minimum disturbance tothe customer focused businesses, Integration isbeing managed by a separate Integration Teambased both in Barbados and The Bahamasconsisting of some 130 professionals from theCaribbean, UK and Canada, led by a veryexperienced executive, Jackie Beaurivage, fromCIBC Canada. I am pleased with our earlyprogress.The re-signing of buildings and ATMs andintroduction of harmonised products andservices will take place country by countryacross our 15 countries of operation over a 12month period.Our overall journey of integration will take sometwo and a half years and we have a well-developedplan to ensure we achieve our targets. For the sakeof our customers, employees and shareholders wewill implement our transformation with care andprudence, in particular aiming for minimaldisruption for our customers. We willcommunicate extensively to ensure all ourstakeholders are kept fully informed as we makechanges.Our PeopleOur philosophy is that our people are our greatestasset and we invest accordingly.It is our aim to become the ‘Employer of Choice’within the Financial Services industry in theCaribbean and The Bahamas. We have a specificprogramme under the leadership of the ExecutiveDirector, Human Resources, aimed at delivering onthis objective. The key pieces, and some earlydeliverables, are:• Pay for performance: introducing a newPerformance Management system linkingpay to individual and Corporateperformance. This is already implementedbut we expect to further develop ourperformance culture over time.• Sharing in our success: encouraging ourstaff to hold shares in FirstCaribbean. Wegifted $1,500 – 3,500 of shares inFirstCaribbean to each employee uponcompletion of the merger and now plan tointroduce a subsidised scheme to allowfurther investment in our shares by ouremployees.• Investing in People: we have committed$3.8 million to training and developmentprogrammes over the first 18 months ofFirstCaribbean’s life and intend to offer allour staff ongoing programmes and supportto develop them to their full potential.23