This initiative is an effort to move “beyond traditional Bahamian banking boundaries” as customers are demanding more sophisticated products and better service.
“The time is now for private banking to serve the needs of an increasingly sophisticated Bahamian population, and we at Bank of The Bahamas International a proud to recognise that need, to perform in a manner that exceeds expectations, and to do all we can to earn our clients’ trust,” said BOB’s Managing Director Paul McWeeney during the launch of the private banking division on Thursday at Mountbatten House.
“We stand on the precipice of a new day in financial services for Bahamians,” Mr McWeeney added.
During the launch it was also announced that Samuel Haven Jr would act as Senior Manager of the private banking division.
“While I am honoured to have been selected to head private banking and feel it adds invaluable depth to the bank’s full range of services, I am also excited to be part of such a dynamic organisation as Bank of The Bahamas International,” Mr Haven said.
Mr Haven is a veteran in the financial services industry, with a career in private banking and asset management spanning 30 years. The private banking division is just the latest in a series of new initiatives that BOB has taken over the last year.
In 2007 the bank is also expected to open a branch in Coral Gables, Florida, which is a first for any Bahamian-owned bank.
According to Mr McWeeney, “This step is the latest in a series of innovations designed specifically to improve the financial well-being of our Bahamian customers, the commerce we support, and the nation we help to build. “Bank of The Bahamas has broken through narrow lanes and found broader fields, never eschewing traditional repository and lending practices, but adding to banking’s role, the significant role of making life better in The Bahamas.”
With $600 million in assets οΎ and more than 4,000 shareholders, Mr McWeeney said further that BOB was getting back to its roots.
“Ironically, as we embark on this new path of becoming the first Bahamian bank to offer private banking to Bahamians on a public scale, we are reminded that we are, in both a symbolic and a real sense, returning to banking’s roots, for it was private banking that gave birth to banking as we know it today,” said Mr McWeeney.
Although BOB is excited about launching the private banking division, its management acknowledges that the new division would bring challenges.
“It is a form of banking that is relationship-dependent and performance-demanding,” according to Mr McWeeney.
Source: The Guardian
