Sheer size
Republic Bank (Guyana) ended 2014 with net assets of $13.6 billion. Also, it had 202,992 accounts, $129 billion in assets and $113 billion in deposits under its control. With those numbers, Republic Bank remains the largest bank in Guyana. Beyond that, the market felt that the company was worth far more and gave it a valuation of $35 billion, about two-and-a-half times more than its book value. The market valuation of the bank solidifies the view that Republic Bank is the largest commercial bank in Guyana. Over the next three weeks, an evaluation of the performance of the remaining three commercial banks that are part of the Lucas Stock Index (LSI) will be undertaken. From its sheer size, one would regard Republic Bank as a leader in the financial services industry. Its growth and expansion keep it ahead of the rest of the competition and a frontrunner of the industry. As such, this week’s assessment starts with Republic Bank (Guyana) since it remains a dominant force in the banking industry in the country and a study of its business strategy could offer useful insights into the challenges, opportunities and condition of the banking industry in Guyana.
This most likely is the last annual report of the bank with John Alves as Managing Director as he is scheduled to leave the organization in June of this year. As he does so, the profile of the bank presents an overall picture of stability even though one could observe periodic fluctuations in performance. Such a contrasting performance is evident between the years of 2013 and 2014. For the most recent year of reporting, Republic Bank (Guyana) generated profits of $3.6 billion before taxation in 2014 as against $3.7 billion in the prior year. This discussion considers the profit before tax because that is a true reflection of the results from the
