Cayman group to acquire Republic subsidiary

The Cayman Islands banking and securities operations of Republic Financials Holdings Ltd (RFHL) are to be acquired, via a merger, by two subsidiaries of Cayman National Corporation (CNC), pending regulatory approvals, it was announced on Monday.

In a statement, CNC said Cayman National Bank (CNB) will merge with Republic Bank (Cayman) Ltd. Also, Cayman National Securities Ltd will take over the securities operations of Republic Cayman.

Once finalised, the remaining entities will be Cayman National Bank and Cayman National Securities.

"The merger of these entities rationalises operations in the Cayman Islands and creates efficiencies, with no loss of service to clients or displacement of staff. All Caymanians at (Republic) will continue to be employed within the Cayman National Group following the completion of the mergers," the CNC statement said.

It also quoted Stuart Dack, CEO of CNC, who said, “We believe this transaction will add great value to the Cayman National Corporation Group" and that the group looked forward to welcoming Republic's Cayman clients and staff.

Nigel Baptiste, RFHL president and CEO, said the merger brings the TT group “one step closer to streamlining our operations in the Cayman Islands."

"This move will enable the RFHL Group to enhance the experience of the existing clients of Republic Bank (Cayman) Ltd by providing access to a wider array of products and services, and eliminating some of the duplication that currently exists across both entities.”

In the coming weeks, Republic Cayman will provide clients with information about the proposed merger, which will be announced once approved by regulators.

In March 2019, RFHL acquired a majority interest – 74.99 per cent – in CNC for US$198 million via its Barbados banking subsidiary.

Its then chairman Ronald Harford said the acquisition of CNC "will allow us to combine and leverage the talents of our two world-class organisations. We are particularly eager to learn from Cayman National’s experience in international financial services and serving high net worth clients."

At the time, the deal moved RFHL's asset base to US$12 billion. Earlier this month, RHFL announced TT$1.15 billion in profit for the nine-months ending June 30.

CNC, established in 1974, reported net income of US$11.2 million for the six-month period ending March 31 – down four per cent for the same period a year ago.

Publicly traded on the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, CNC comprises – Cayman National Bank Ltd, Cayman National Fund Services Ltd, Cayman National Securities Ltd, Cayman National Bank (Isle of Man) Ltd and Cayman National Trust Company (Isle of Man) Ltd, and Cayman National (Dubai) Ltd.

Republic Cayman was established in 1992 and holds a trust licence and an unrestricted Class B banking licence under the Banks and Trust Companies Law of the Cayman Islands.

It also holds a mutual funds licence and is a registered excluded person for purposes of the Securities Investment Business Law of the Cayman Islands.