First Caribbean Bank Case Study

Section 1: Introduction

A Brief History of CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank

FirstCaribbean was formed in 2002 with the merger of CIBC West Indies Holdings and Barclays Bank PLC Caribbean operations. Barclays’ history in the Caribbean has dated back to the early decades of the nineteenth century where, due to the favorable economic conditions in both England and the West Indies, a group of merchants and bankers in London decided to establish a bank to operate in the West Indies. CIBC acquired Barclays’ stake in December 2006 and became the majority shareholder in FirstCaribbean. The name CIBC FirstCaribbean was announced on June 20th 2011. This addition ‘CIBC’ was said to emphasize CIBC’s long-term commitment to the Caribbean region, its employees and their clients.

Rationale of Research

CIBC First Caribbean International Bank (Barbados) Ltd. was chosen because of the experience it has gained over almost 250 years in the Caribbean through their heritage organizations such as Barclays PLC and CIBC. Also due to its distinction of being the oldest bank in the Caribbean. Their transformation has led to the development of the region and changes in the way banking is done today, through their strong Corporate Social Responsibility and philanthropic contributions are applauded.

This paper will highlight the key challenges of the company within its past five years of operation and also to discover and comment on the company’s business environment and the effects these changes have or will have on the company’s customers. The focus will also be to analyze the Merger between Barclays and CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank in relation to the environmental changes the company has undergone.

Key challenges faced within the past 5 years

With the merger of Caribbean holdings of Barclays Bank Plc. and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) being finalized; the integration of diverse systems and procedures were of...