ECCB approves sale of RBC Eastern Caribbean assets

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has given approval for a consortium of indigenous banks to purchase RBC’s assets throughout the Easter Caribbean. In a release Friday, the Caribbean Association of Banks (CAB) said ECCB Governor Timothy Antoine the approval. The sale includes operations in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. The assets will be sold to First National Bank in St Lucia; Antigua Commercial Bank; National Bank of Dominica; Bank of Montserrat; and Bank of Nevis. The value of the transaction was not given.

Antoine, the CAB said, confirmed the approval at a press conference Friday in St Kitts. The governor said that while an official announcement would be coming soon, he was in a position to confirm that the process was progressing smoothly.

Antoine said: “The ECCB has approved the application for the sale of the RBC operations in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union to a consortium of indigenous or national banks. That process is now moving forward, and an announcement will be made in due course. But the idea is to conclude that transaction not too long from now. So that is moving forward. In fact, I can tell you only yesterday (Thursday, February 18) we submitted to the finance ministers a vesting order or vesting orders, which is an important legal instrument to transfer assets from one bank or banking entity to another. So that process is moving forward."