Half of FSVB staff may be retained by BOSVG and Receiver

Approximately half the staff of First St Vincent Bank (FSVB) may be rehired by Acquiring Institution Bank of St Vincent and the Grenadines (BOSVG) and Receiver David Collins of Interpath East East Caribbean Ltd.

This follows the decision of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) to place FSVB was into receivership.

Governor of the ECCB Timothy Antoine, said this on Tuesday, May 30 at a press conference which was held to address the placement of First St Vincent Bank (FSVB) into receivership after it failed to meet required standards.

“The staff will be severed, I expect, under the laws of St Vincent and Grenadines with appropriate respect for the laws so they will be treated fairly…,” the ECCB Governor said.

He said that the acquriring institution may retain a small number to deal with the business of overseeing, and other matters.

“…Bank of St. Vincent, the Grenadines will have the option because it has additional depositors and loans, to take some staff; and I’m told that they’re looking at about four staff.”

However, Antoine said that the decision completely belongs to BOSVG not the ECCB, so they cannot impose any employee on the acquiring institution.

A release issued by the ECCB stated that there had been significant and sustained breaches of the Banking Act (2015), especially in respect of capital requirements; high credit risk and low earnings performance; poor accounting and corporate governance practices; and ineffective risk management systems. As a result, On Friday, May 26, the ECCB, which is the regulator of banking business in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) has placed FSVB into receivership under the powers enshrined in Section 138 of the Banking Act No 4 of 2015 of the laws of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Now, customers of FSVB may resume their banking services through the Bank of St. Vincent and Grenadines (BoSVG), which has accepted the ECCB’s invitation to acquire certain assets and liabilities of FSVB.

Consequently, the institution has been shut down, its banking license will soon be revoked, and approximately seven of its 14 employees may be left jobless.

“Now at the time of receivership, there were 14 members of staff, so potentially four may be going to BoSVG, I said potentially, because again…[they] reserve the right, they may take more, they may take less… but that’s their position, that’s their decision,” Antoine said at the press conference.

He also said that the Receiver, which is David Collins of Interpath East Caribbean Ltd (trading as Interpath Advisory), will take approximately two or three as well but the Receiver is the one that has to make that decision in its own deliberate judgment.

The Receiver’s responsibility is to assume control of, and secure the assets of FSVB for an initial period of six months. The Receiver will liquidate the institution via the sale of viable assets and wind up its affairs in an orderly manner to minimise risk to financial stability.

“So at least half of the staff will be certainly… employed. Loss of employment is not something that’s desirable ever, but, hopefully there’ll be new opportunities for them…”.