‘Arrant nonsense!’
T&T finance minister scoffs at claims NCBFG facing financial challenges that could impact nation
Published:Thursday | August 10, 2023 | 12:12 AM
TRINIDAD AND Tobago Finance Minister Colm Imbert has rubbished a claim by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar that the NCB Financial Group (NCBFG) is experiencing financial challenges that could disrupt the twin island’s financial sector.
Imbert said Persad-Bissessar’s comments were intended to “fool the public” and to have Trinidadians thinking that the country’s Government has failed to address the perceived issue that may affect Guardian Holdings Limited (GHL).
NCBFG is the parent company for GHL, but the two are legally separate entities, he said.
He said if there is in fact an issue with NCBFG, it is restricted to Jamaica and that the Government has no responsibility for it.
Citing a report from the Central Bank on the financial viability of Guardian, Imbert said the company is financially sound.
He said that Guardian is in “excellent shape”, pulling in $1billion in profit for 2022.
“It is important to debunk this nonsense that has been put out into the public domain by the leader of the Opposition in this election period. Arrant nonsense!” he said at a press conference on Tuesday.
He called Persad-Bissessar’s comments “outrageous”.
Furthermore, he said that NCB has less than one per cent of banking activity in Trinidad and Tobago.
Persad-Bissessar, last week, pointed to recent “financial manoeuvres” by Jamaican billionaire Michael Lee Chin at NCBFG and questioned the financial sector’s exposure to a systemic collapse.
She insisted that the Central Bank conduct immediate financial stress tests on GHL.
Persad-Bissessar said that local investors who have billions of dollars of savings invested in GHL were worried about the financial health of the institution due to the majority shareholding ownership of NCBFG.
In the meantime, NCBFG yesterday, for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, reported net profit of $7.4 billion, a $2.4 billion or 48 per cent improvement over the prior quarter ended March 2023.
Net profit attributable to stockholders of the parent for the June 2023 quarter was $5.5 billion, an increase of $2.1 billion or 62 per cent over the March 2023 quarter.
“This rebound was primarily attributable to improved gains from investment activities in its wealth, asset management, and investment banking segment,” NCBFG said. “This contributed to operating income of $35.6 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, reflecting an increase of 13 per cent or $4.0 billion over the March 2023 quarter.”