Banking
From The Report: Trinidad & Tobago 2016
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Despite economic growth slowing in 2015 and 2016, Trinidad and Tobago’s banks remain profitable and may even see benefits from the end of a long period of very low interest rates. According to the Central Bank of T&T (CBTT), for the past five years growth in the financial sector (including finance, insurance and real estate) has outpaced economic expansion. In 2015 the nation’s GDP contracted by 2.1%, while the finance sector grew by 1.9%. Meanwhile, the share of GDP accounted for by finance, insurance and real estate has held largely steady at around 11% since the start of the decade. Total assets of the country’s commercial banks inched up by 0.82% in 2015, reach¬ing TT$134.8bn ($20.8bn) at the end of the year, up from TT$133.7bn ($20.6bn) in December 2014. T&T banks had TT$18bn ($2.8bn) worth of cash reserves at the end of 2015, which exceeded the statutory minimum reserve level of TT$13.3bn ($2bn) by a total of TT$4.6bn ($708.4m). This chapter features an interview with Nigel Baptiste, President, Republic Financial Holdings.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

On solid ground: Lenders enjoy continued profitability although sector growth has slowed
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Well capitalised and financially healthy, the banking sector in Trinidad and Tobago is led by eight main institutions. Despite economic growth slowing in 2015 and 2016, the country’s banks remain profitable and may even see benefits from the end of a long period of very low interest rates. Industry Structure The financial sector is regulated by the Central Bank of T&T (CBTT) and consists of commercial banks and non-bank financial institutions, as defined in the Financial Institutions Act…

Interview

Lending plan: OBG talks to Nigel Baptiste, President, Republic Financial Holdings
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Interview:Nigel Baptiste With government facing a revenue shortage, how can banks help fund infrastructure and housing? NIGEL BAPTISTE: From a direct financing perspective, there is potential for the private sector to lend directly to the government of Trinidad and Tobago. This is a function of the liquidity in the system, which is estimated to be somewhere between TT$4bn ($616m) and TT$8bn ($1.2bn). This estimate includes secondary reserves and special deposits and is equally available for…

Analysis

Open market operations: Recent monetary policy has involved gradual tightening of interest rates and interventions on foreign currency markets
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As a result of falling hydrocarbons prices in 2014-16, and the consequential drop in export revenue, the Trinidad and Tobago dollar has come under increasing pressure and has been slowly depreciating. During the same period there was both a change in government – in September 2015 – and a change in the top leadership of the Central Bank of T&T (CBTT) – in December 2015. Despite some shifts in emphasis over the course of 2015 and in early 2016, the broad monetary policy pursued was a combination…