TORONTO, CANADA — The Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) (RBC) on Thursday announced that it has received the required approvals from local governments and from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for the sale of its Eastern Caribbean banking operations.
The transaction closed last week.
This sale saw RBC sell its Eastern Caribbean banking operations to a consortium of regional banks, comprised of 1st National Bank of St Lucia, Antigua Commercial Bank, Bank of Dominica, Bank of Montserrat and the Bank of Nevis.
The sale includes RBC’s 11 branches in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
RBC Head of Caribbean Banking Rob Johnston said: “This transaction will allow RBC to align investments and resources into markets where our vision for being the Caribbean’s digitally-enabled relationship bank can be executed most successfully.
“The sale of our Eastern Caribbean banking operations to indigenous banks is also a critical step forward in strengthening the domestic financial services sectors in each of the countries and territories involved. This will help create a stronger climate for further growth, development and prosperity.”
Upon closing this transaction, RBC’s Caribbean presence — supported by 3,000 employees — will include 41 branches and offices across Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
As RBC has decided to close its Governors Harbour branch, Eleutherans will have to drive to Three Island dock, catch a water taxi, & rent a golf cart, in order to use a drop box, ATM, or maybe see a human employed there. For anyone south of Hatchet Bay, this is an all day affair. RBC has once again stranded Family Island customers with essentially no access to their services.
RBC has not been transparent to its clients- as a result, those of us in Grenada have been surprised to find paper notices on locked doors informing us of Industrial action taken by employees of RBTT. No in person bank transactions for some time now, with ATMs slow to be refilled and striking employees lined up outside.
Tried unsuccessfully to get in today – long line outside in the rain with one teller operating…
Good chance will be closing my decade long account as soon as I can interact with a human.