Parent company CIBC celebrates 150 years of banking

Employees and clients of CIBC FirstCaribbean were recently toasted by the regional bank in a joint day-long celebration.

The joint celebration of Employee and Client Appreciation Day was the first of its kind for CIBC FirstCaribbean and was done to mark the bank’s parent company CIBC’s 150th anniversary on May 15.

The organization worldwide marked this special occasion on the same day, in a bid to share this momentous occasion with both staff and clients.

The bank used the day to recognize the two biggest contributors of its business – its clients and employees.

Staff, clients and visitors were warmly welcomed to the branch, which was colourfully decorated in the bank’s corporate colours. They were served light refreshments, while serenaded by music. Later, staff was treated to a special barbecue and goat cook-up.

CIBC has been in the Caribbean since 1920. The first CIBC branches in the West Indies were established in Bridgetown, Barbados and in Kingston, Jamaica. Branches were also opened in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Havana, Cuba that same year.

So, the Caribbean arm of CIBC, though not as old as Canada, is rich and expansive across the region. The 2011 re-branding of the company to combine the CIBC name with FirstCaribbean is evidence of the importance of the Caribbean operation.