National Commercial Bank (NCB) Jamaica Limited has been named in Global Finance’s list of the World’s Safest Banks in 112 countries.

According to Global Finance, which is headquartered in New York with a circulation of 50,000 and readers in 191 countries, “The Safest Banks by Country were selected through an evaluation of long-term foreign currency ratings — from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch — and the total assets of the 1,000 largest banks worldwide.”

Yesterday, NCB Chief Executive Officer Septimus “Bob” Blake expressed pride at the award and thanked the bank’s staff and customers.

“My team and I are proud of the recognition that our work has received from Global Finance,” Blake told the Business Observer in an e-mailed response. “We owe this success to our customers and our team members — our customers, for constantly pushing us and demanding world-class service, and our team members who are constantly innovating and working to deliver the world-class service our customers have come to expect and deserve.”

The 29th annual World’s Safest Banks rankings were released on Monday and posted on Global Finance’s website. The publication, which explained that it regularly selects the top performers among banks and other providers of financial services, stated that the awards have become a trusted standard of excellence for the global financial community and have been the recognised and trusted standard of financial counterparty safety for more than a quarter-century.

“For most of 2020, the world has been lashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, a steep drop in economic activity and, in some cases, serious social unrest. Any of these developments could have significantly impacted banks’ credit worthiness,” Global Finance’s publisher and editorial director, Joseph Giarraputo, is quoted on the website.

“Surprisingly however, the relative position of the world’s largest banks on Global Finance’s World’s Safest Banks 2020 lists has been mostly stable. One can only speculate on when, or if, the changes will come. In the meantime, the rankings will be used by companies, investors and individuals to gauge the relative safety of the banks with which they choose to do business,” he added.