KINGSTON, Jamaica — National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB), which is in the final stages of a court-approved restructuring to allow for consolidation and better supervision, suspended trading this week to facilitate the transition.

The finance group is proceeding with the Scheme of Arrangement, which will see a swap in shares between National Commercial Bank, NCB Financial Group Limited and their respective shareholders.

NCB requested that trading in its shares be suspended after the close of trading on Friday, March 10, and that trading in the shares of NCB Financial Group Ltd commence on the opening of trading on Thursday, March 16.

The new financial holding company NCB Financial Group Ltd, to be licensed under the Banking Services Act, will hold the ordinary shares of NCB.

The NCB Group was incorporated in April 2016. AIC (Barbados) Ltd (AIC Barbados), the majority shareholder of NCB, is the sole shareholder of NCB Group.

As part of the scheme, the existing NCB Group ordinary shares (500,002 ordinary shares of no par value) are being gifted by AIC Barbados to NCB Group in accordance with section 59(6) of the Companies Act of Jamaica on the allotment and issue of new NCB Group ordinary shares made to the NCB Ordinary shareholders.

Directors note that this will result in each holder of the existing NCB ordinary shares holding the same number of new NCB Group ordinary shares as he/she held in NCB prior to the implementation of the proposed scheme.

Holders of the cancelled existing NCB ordinary shares will receive an allotment of one new NCB Group ordinary share credited as fully paid for every existing NCB ordinary share cancelled.

The new NCB ordinary shares will be allotted to NCB Group, while every existing holder of NCB ordinary shares on the business day immediately prior to the effective date of the scheme will receive one ordinary share in NCB Group for every NCB ordinary share, which he/she holds on that date.

Avia Collinder