TTMB CEO: No job losses since merger

TT Mortgage Bank (TTMB) CEO and managing director Robert Green has said no jobs were lost when the company was formed earlier this year through the merger of TT Mortgage Finance Company (TTMFC) and Home Mortgage Bank (HMB).

He was speaking at a meeting between TTMB executives and Finance Ministry officials with members of the Parliament's Public Accounts Enterprises Committee (PAEC) on November 20.

The merger between TTMFC and HMB happened in January and the TTMB brand was launched in March.

PAEC chairman Wade Mark observed that sometimes mergers result in the dislocation of the human resources of the entities involved.

He asked if this was so for TTMB.

Green said, "No person has lost their job."

He told PAEC members that when the TTMB's structure was being contemplated, arrangements were put in place to allow staff from TTMFC and HMB to transfer to the new company.

Green added that the roles of employees were adapted accordingly.

In response to additional questions from Mark on this issue, Green said the Banking Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) remains the recognised trade union for workers at TTMB, just as it was at TTMFC and HMB.

While there are some outstanding collective bargaining issues to be resolved, he told PAEC members the company and the union are working amicably to resolve them.

TTMB chairman Patrick Ferreira said the company's shareholders are the National Insurance Board (NIB) and Finance Minister Colm Imbert as corporation sole.

The company, he continued, is the administrator of the government's affordable finance programme for first-time homeowners and collaborates closely with the Housing and Urban Development Ministry, Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and the Land Settlement Agency (LSA).

"We are committed to our mandate of providing affordable finance for the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and support the government's housing programmes."

From 2019-2022, Ferreira continued, TTMB's performance was reflected in an increase in assets from $4.2 billion to $5.1 billion. He said TTMB reported a profit before tax of $513 million for this period.

Green said the TTMF previously provided mortgages for low- and middle-income earners seeking to acquire their first homes.

"However over the last 15 years, we have removed any ceiling from our lending, and we can provide mortgages to anybody looking to acquire a home, mortgages to people who wish to invest or acquire property."

Green said the properties must be residential.

"We also provide loans for other purposes, using the residence as security, for education, for health, for investment – for other types of loans that our customers would wish to access."

Green acknowledged that during the pandemic, some customers would have found themselves in arrears on their loan commitments. He said TTMF would have worked in accordance with government's request at that time to give them a three-month deferral period to pay any outstanding arrears.

Repossession of property, Green continued, was the last resort after all other efforts to help people who are unable to meet their loan obligations have failed. He said this involves seeking a possession order from the court for the property in question.

He also said TTMB has had no issues with meeting any debt obligations of its former entities.

TTMB officials told PAEC members it receives a subsidy from government, and the balance at the end of October was $591 million.

TTMB chief financial officer Laurette Walker said this balance covers a period from January 2022-October 2024.

Mark asked if this balance was sufficient for the TTMB to operate, considering any financial commitments it would have made.

Walker said TTMB received $151 million from the Finance Ministry in the April-July period.

"The government is working to pay the balance down and a cabinet note is before the ministry now as to how they are going to settle the current balance of $591 million."

Green said with regard to this subsidy and any other subsidies going forward, TTMB has submitted proposals to the ministry and the ministry has asked the company for projections for the level of subsidy it would need to finance its business "well beyond 2025 into 2026."

Independent Senator Hazel Thompson-Ahye and Labour Minister Stephen Mc Clashie congratulated TTMB for being up to date with its accounts.

McClashie was grateful to TTMB officials that Mark's blood pressure was not raised by any gaps in financial reporting.

Thompson-Ahye observed it was not often that entities appeared before the PAAC with their accounts in such good order.

"Christmas has come early."