CORPORATE Strategies, the consultancy firm headed by the chairman of the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) Aubyn Hill, has now expanded its reach to Trinidad & Tobago.

The company won an assignment that will see the former managing director of NCB assessing and proposing the restructuring of Michael Lee Chin's AIC operations in the twin-island republic.

AIC (Trinidad) has yet to establish itself since it was founded in 2003. Former deputy chairman of NCB and Lee Chin's right-hand man, Kris Astaphan, recruited a cadre of young managers mostly from RBTT to solicit business and make an impact in the region. Most of those managers have now left and AIC (Trinidad) is unquestionably floundering. The Trinidadian arm of AIC did acquire the merchant bank, Total Finance, and the brokerage T&T Stocks and Shares.

This latest move sees Hill reuniting with his former boss Michael Lee Chin, who recruited him back in 2002 from the Bank of Oman to resuscitate NCB. Hill did a good job, introducing a more results-orientated culture into one of Jamaica's leading financial institutions. When he took over as managing director in September 2002, NCB's net profit stood at J$317 million. When he left in November 2004, it had grown to J$3.2 billion. The share price during Hill's tenure leapt from J$5.5 to a high of J$31.7.

On leaving NCB, Hill's talents were recognised and he remained on the Jamaican corporate landscape, forming Corporate Strategies last year, working for free as Air Jamaica's Chief Restructuring Officer before being appointed as chairman of the merged entity comprising the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) and the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ).

A release put out by Corporate Strategies yesterday read: "Corporate Strategies' Aubyn Hill will devote most of the next couple of months to this important consulting assignment, but he and Corporate Strategies have arranged to continue to serve their very select group of Jamaican clients without any interruption or inconvenience."

Speaking with Caribbean Business Report last night, Hill said: " I will be going to AIC (Trinidad) in a consulting capacity to put in place a business plan that will move it into profitability."

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