The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Ltd will soon announce plans to build its new $1 billion corporate headquarters at High and Young Streets in the vicinity of Le Meridien Pegasus and the Canadian High Commission.

In an interview with Stabroek News at the final of GBTI’s inaugural Impromptu Speech Competition on Wednesday at the bank’s Recreational Centre in Bel Air Park, Chief Executive Officer Radhakrishna Sharma said the bank will announce its plans soon. Sharma said the headquarters will cost over $1 billion and will be a four-storey corporate building that will not house a branch for routine banking transactions for the public.

Meanwhile, GBTI will soon open its full-service banking facility at the newly constructed $1 billion Buddy’s International Hotel at Providence. This GBTI branch, Sharma feels, will cater to the banking needs of guests at the hotel as well as to residents in the area.

GBTI is the largest locally-owned bank and over the years has opened branches in Berbice, Essequibo and Lethem (the only commercial bank there) as well as in the city.

High level business forums are also organized by the bank like the business conference at Le Meridien Pegasus last year under the theme, ‘Defining a successful business strategy within the CSME’.

This year Guyana has seen a wave of billion-dollar establishments. In February, National Hardware Guyana Ltd opened its $1 billion Super Centre at Industrial Site Ruimveldt. Republic Bank Guyana Ltd a subsidiary of Republic Bank in Trinidad and Tobago, began constructing a new Camp Street branch valued $1.3 billion.