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Johannes
New Managing Director of 1st National Bank St. Lucia Ltd., Johnathan Johannes, is concerned about the withdrawal of correspondent banking relationships by global banks, which can disrupt financial services, including remittances, and undermine development goals.
Speaking at a press conference this week, the St. Lucian national stated that this is one of the many issues affecting the local and regional banking sectors. However, he said with the support of his 1st National team, he is ready to tackle these challenges.
“The situation is so dire that CARICOM has even been discussing it among the regional heads and lobbying with Washington to try and get some change. Belize has been the hardest hit in terms of total loss of correspondent banks. We don’t want that to come to St. Lucian shores,” Johannes told the media.
He added: “And perhaps what it manifests itself in is increased requirements for information from clients. So you go down to a bank and you say, ‘I have been doing business with you for 25 years, why do you need this? Why do you need that?’ Well it is simple, our corresponding banks need to know who our customers are. And it is a struggle every day to maintain that level of service to customers whilst maintaining the level of service we provide to the corresponding banks.”
Johannes was officially appointed managing director on June 1, 2017. The post was left vacant following the death of former managing director Andy Delmar in a motor vehicular accident in July 2016.
The veteran banker was introduced to the media on June 14.
“I have 10 years of banking experience with First Caribbean. I travelled the entire Caribbean handling their retail wealth and their small business portfolios. I was also part of the team that merged Barclay’s Caribbean operations and CIBC’s Caribbean operations.
“Six years ago I transitioned from banking to come back to St. Lucia and I served as Courts’ director of sales for the entire OECS for the last 6 years. This opportunity came up to lead and be part of a truly St. Lucian company and I felt it necessary to jump at this opportunity.”
Johannes said he is passionate about service and this complements the bank’s commitment to providing stellar financial services to its customers. He said focus will also be placed on the bank’s employees.
“I really believe that you must take care of your employees if you expect them to take care of your customers, so I am very passionate about putting employees first,” he said.
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