Bracken Award
“ The
was a big deal for us!
“
will work wonders for our people
and economy, adding that the
new initiative has his full support.
However, while the youth will
gravitate to it, he believes people
must be mindful that as secure as
the digital wallet is, they need to
start treating their technological
devices – such as cellphones – with
a greater level of security.
For its many successes over the
years, 1 st National Bank has racked
up many accolades. In fact, 1 st
National Bank might arguably be
Saint Lucia’s most awarded bank,
having won thirteen awards at the
Saint Lucia Business Awards hosted
by the Saint Lucia Chamber of
Commerce, Industry & Agriculture
since 2010. Last year, 1 st National
Bank added the two most recent
crystals to its cabinet, namely the
Award for Service Excellence and
Business of the Year.
Last November, Johannes was in
London to receive another major
honour for 1 st National Bank: the
Bracken Bank of the Year Award.
Accompanying Johannes on
that trip were 1 st National Bank’s
Chairman, Nigel Fulgence, and
Executive Manager for Marketing
and Public Relations, Robert
Fevrier.
Considered the Oscars of the global
banking industry, the Bracken
Awards celebrate excellence in
banking. Awards are given in
several categories, with judges
assessing over 1,000 applications
from 120 countries.
The Bracken Awards are presented
by the Banker Magazine, which
began in 1926 as a subsidiary of
the Financial Times of London. The
win by National Bank is, therefore,
a major milestone since no other
bank in the Eastern Caribbean
has ever won the Bank of the Year
Award.
“The Bracken Award was a big
deal for us,” an elated Johannes
said. “It capped off a great year
for us. I don’t think I would have
felt truly accomplished if we didn’t
win that Bracken Award and those
Chamber Awards. I mean, we’re
from an island with two Nobel
Laureates, so why limit ourselves
to our shores? Based on the good
year we had in 2018, we decided
to go after the Bracken Award in
2019.”
Getting the Bracken Award at the
special ceremony was one thing,
but the win was made even more
memorable as Johannes and his
team visited the Financial Times
where they had small group
meetings with the Economic
Editors for North and Latin America
and the Caribbean. They also got
www.slyoumag.com | February - April 2020
to sit at the table and talk about
the issues affecting their respective
regions and markets.
When it was 1st National Bank’s turn
to contribute to the discussions, the
team spoke about the controversial
topic of de-risking and its impact
on Saint Lucia’s economy and
elsewhere in the Caribbean. They
also spoke about the mass flight
of Canadian banks that have been
the region’s partners for many
years. According to Johannes, “We
felt really proud just being there
because we controlled the narrative
of that discussion.”
In December last year, 1 st National
Bank announced that it had
entered into an agreement with
RBC Royal Bank to acquire the
international bank, another first
by 1 st National Bank. Moreover,
1 st National Bank also purchased
RBC’s operations in Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines and a stake in
RBC Grenada.
The takeover came via a
consortium of five banks, of which
1 st National Bank was the major
player. The other four were Antigua
Commercial Bank Ltd., National
Bank of Dominica Ltd., Bank of
Monserrat Ltd., and Bank of Nevis
Ltd.
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