Republic Bank Limited’s (RBL) pursuit of Scotiabank was to increase its economies of scale and become more competitive but notwithstanding the unsuccessful takeover bid, the Trinidad-headquartered bank is gearing to ramp up services to the oil and gas sector.
“For us, we saw the expansion as an opportunity to secure more economies of scale and become more efficient. That would make us more competitive and drive the banking and financial system to become more competitive as well. We saw this as a good thing for the clients of the sector. With size, we could invest even more in upgrading our technology…and this would benefit everyone,” President and CEO of Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL), Nigel Baptiste told the Sunday Stabroek in an interview last week. RFHL is the parent company of Republic Bank.
Stabroek News reported on Wednesday that the Bank of Guyana (BoG) had rejected RBL’s application for the acquisition of Scotiabank while citing a number of concerns.
