OUR BANK IS YOUR BANK.
That’s how outgoing Republic Bank Barbados chief executive officer and managing director Derwin Howell wants Barbadians to view the former Barbados National Bank (BNB) after a firestorm of criticism over its renaming three months ago.
Republic got majority control of BNB in 2003 when it acquired 57 per cent of its stock after Government privatized the institution. Since then Republic has increased its holding in the institution.
But in a wide-ranging interview while preparing to head back to Trinidad to become executive director of the Republic Bank Group, Howell said he wanted to leave the island knowing that Barbadians accepted the Trinidad bank subsidiary as part of their own.
In an exclusive interview with the DAILY NATION, Howell said: “I am a Trinidadian. Fine – that is what is on my passport, but at heart I am a Caribbean man, and at the end of the day, Republic Bank is a Caribbean bank. Our goal is to be a Caribbean bank owned by the people of the Caribbean.”
