Republic makes $1.3b profit

Republic Financial Holdings Ltd (RFHL) has recorded a $1.32 billion profit for the year ended September 30, 2018—a nearly $70 million or six per cent increase over last year. RFHL is the biggest indigenous financial institution in the region and parent company of the country’s biggest commercial bank, Republic Bank.

In a release Friday, the group credited its Cayman Islands and Eastern Caribbean operations for the boost in profitability, generating $55 million, as well as stronger performances in Suriname and Ghana. The company, like most financial institutions around the world adopted the international financial reporting standards 9 (IFRS 9) protocol, which requires a provision for expected credit losses as opposed to waiting on “trigger events” that would signal immediate losses, as a way of mitigating risk exposure in the wake of the global financial crisis. Group chairman Ronald Harford said following IFRS 9, the group “charged through opening equity $865 million in expected credit losses for loans and investments, of which $658.4 million was accounted for in Republic Bank (Barbados) Ltd. The increase was mainly as a result of the government of Barbados restructuring its local currency obligations, Harford said.

Total assets at year-end stood at $70.5 billion, an increase of 2.5 per cent over 2017. The company’s final dividend is $3.15, same as last, and will be paid to shareholders on December 3. Total dividend paid for the financial year is $715.1 million, or $4.40 per share, the same as last year.

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