No major immediate changes | Republic Bank to honour Scotia’s AA miles, pension benefits packages

By Esther Durand, BVI News Staff

Managing Director of Republic Bank BVI, Marion Blyden, has assured customers that there will not be any major changes to the bank’s operations in the immediate and short term.

She said this is because the operations are still in the ‘transitional phase’ since purchasing Scotiabank BVI, and will remain that way for the next few months.

She told BVI News on Thursday that Republic Bank will also continue benefits that Scotia had been awarding to pensioners, and adding that credit card clients will still be able to earn points for American Airlines miles.

“To facilitate a smooth transaction, we have entered into a transaction service agreement with Scotiabank for a period, so some of our operational functions will still continue to be supported by Scotiabank. For instance, the ATM and all pre-acquisition products and services including e-structures, rates, they remain unchanged,” Blyden said.

She further said the 50-plus staff that were employed at the Scotia’s sole Road Town location was retained. 

“So it will be the same friendly faces that you see when you walk into the bank. Our telephone numbers remain the same so you can contact us the same way.”

Local input will be included in bank’s decision-making

The Managing Director further said shareholders could expect Republic Bank to have more autonomy in terms of being able to make decisions.

She explained: “Decisions are going to be driven by local input, local knowledge and local influence. As a result of that, we are expecting a faster turnaround time in terms of decision-making.”

She said these decisions include those that would affect the way forward for the business, and that includes credit decisions, product and service offerings based on the market demand.

Bank to provide enhanced focus on small businesses

Blyden stated that the banking institution has also recognized that there is an opportunity for innovation and development in the business community, and they are well-positioned to satisfy that need.

She said there would be ‘enhanced focus’ on the small and medium-sized enterprise sector and investments will be made to promote and develop it.

“I think this is absolutely good news because, from history, Republic has had a track record of adding value to the jurisdictions that they enter. They add value to the customers, the shareholders, and the community and that will be no different from the BVI.”

Republic Bank will so honour their corporate social responsibility, she added.

Visible Changes

In the meantime, Blyden said there are some noticeable changes relating to the takeover. She said these changes include the company’s rebranding from Scotiabank’s signature red colour to Republic’s trademark blue colour and logos.

“Our website is different, but our customers are able to access it using Scotiabank BVI’s website. They will be directed to the new Republic’s website,” said Blyden, stating that customers log-in credentials also remain the same.

She continued: “There is one change to the incoming and outgoing wire transfers instruction, so that has now changed to represent Republic Bank’s account information.”

Who is Blyden

Blyden has been an employee with Scotiabank since November 2018 until the acquisition, where she has retained her position with the Republic Bank.

She is a BVIslander and has been a career banker for more than 20 years.

About the acquisition 

Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL) more commonly referred to as ‘Republic Bank’ completed its acquisition of Scotiabank in the territory on May 31.

“The acquisition will add 51 team members to RFHL’s staff complement of approximately 6,077. At the end of October 2019, the BVI operation reported total assets of $568.5 Million and profits of $14.6 million and based on those numbers, the total asset base of the Republic Group will increase to approximately $15.5 Billion,” a media release form the bank said.