With plans to accelerate the take-up of loans offered through its digital loan store, regional bank CIBC FirstCaribbean said it is working to have the portal open to all customers by the end of 2023.

Now undergoing a phased roll-out to selected customers of the bank following the official launch in 2021, the web-based application has been steadily building momentum as it engages and caters to the needs of customers stretched across nine countries in the Caribbean. These include Antigua, St Lucia, Jamaica, Barbados, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, Trinidad and Tobago, and the British Virgin Islands.

“Right now the service is being offered by invitation only as we phase it in; therefore, not all our clients will be selected but so far uptake has been good and has also been working exactly as we envisaged, even matching our business as usual [BAU] sales and we are very satisfied,” senior manager for sales and business development at CIBC, Christopher McFarlane, told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

“We will be reaching out to our clients across the Caribbean to make sure that more persons can have access between now and before the end of 2023 as we work to service all of our customers and not just some,” he said to the Caribbean Business Report.

At the end of its financial year in 2021, financial details for the regional financial institution shows that it disbursed US$6.3 billion in loans and advances to customers. Revenues for that year amounted to US$534 million, supported by recovered profits of US$126 million.

McFarlane providing a rationale for the development of the platform said that aside from it falling under the bank’s wider digital transformation objectives, the intent was also to build out more omni-channels as the institution moves to satisfy customer requests, offer more mediums for facilitating communication and transactions while also driving further growth in its loan portfolio.

“By omni-channel we mean giving customers the option to utilise our services in any way they see fit — be it digitally, in-person or over the phone.

“The new channels that we are bringing to market is also a culmination of how we have been moving into the digital world since the last six/seven years, commencing with our online banking platform,” he said, noting other offerings such as the roll-out of smart ABMs and instant cheque deposit features among those also aimed at improving client experience.

“We have been pushing very deeply into digital and we have some services that are already rolled out across the region. We’re doing well in adding our new services, most of which are being done on a phased basis, with some in certain countries now in trail while others are about to be fully rolled out. We’ll have the requisite announcements of these at the right time,” McFarlane added.

Having to date approved some 1,100 loans, the bulk of which accounts for personal and other types of unsecured loans, McFarlane said the platform which also allows for quick and seamless delivery of service, allows clients to access their approved funds in less than ten minutes and via paperless transactions.

“The application, adjudication, review and disbursement processes are all done online and in just under ten minutes.

“Within approving these loans, our average time from ‘saying hello’ to funding is just about seven minutes,” he stated.