INVESTORS in the NCB Financial Group can look towards a dividend payment around Christmas this year, ending a two-and-a-half-year hiatus in what were regular quarterly payments before COVID.

“A few minutes ago NCB Financial Group advised the JSE that the board of directors is scheduled to meet on November 17, 2023 and the payment of a dividend will be recommended for consideration at this meeting,” Michael Lee-Chin, chairman of the NCB Financial Group, told the Jamaica Observer late Friday, stressing on the word ‘recommended’ in a manner which suggests it is almost certain that it will be more than a recommendation.

The company last paid a dividend on May 31, 2021 in the amount of 50 cents, but paused payments after and redirected funds to build its capital base as required in new regulatory standards for its banking and insurance businesses. The inflationary environment and higher interest rates as well the possibility of a recession also influenced the strength of the buffers the financial conglomerate built over the years.

But Lee-Chin, saying he was not happy with the length of time it took to restore dividend payments, declared he was not happy about the situation, and took steps to remedy it. Those steps include a shake-up in the top brass of the company and cost cutting for things like consultancy leading to billions in savings. Though being chairman, Lee-Chin took an active role in the company, meeting with staff and customers, and being at the forefront of a drive for the company to become more efficient, with better corporate governance and holding customers as the centre of the organisation.

Then at the company’s last investor briefing in August, he pledged to “work very hard with all efforts leading to the restoration of dividends, because the shareholders have been starved too long and pensioners have been starved for too long. Pension funds have been starved for too long.”

“I made the statement then that by the end of this calendar year, we would pay a dividend. I, on behalf of the staff, made a promise. Promise made, promise kept,” he told Sunday Finance with a relief in his voice before going on to praise the work of the staff in helping to achieve the target.

He said the dividend will be paid, without putting pay to the efforts to build up buffers.

“This financial institution is a SIFI, a systemically important financial institution to Jamaica, and the fate of NCB is the fate of Jamaica, so we have to make sure that the bank at all points in time, irrespective of what new regulations or standards are imposed, we have to make sure that the institution is always fortress like in terms of its strength. The regulatory changes required us to stack more capital…We worked diligently to make sure that the capital of the bank is stable and strong. Now we are confident that the bank is in a good position…we can now look towards rewarding shareholders again who have been starved, including myself.”

Lee-Chin, who told Sunday Finance that NCB Financial Group will “definitely” be paying the dividend in time for Christmas, is the majority shareholder in the bank with 59.50 per cent of the holdings. The financial group, which spans banking, insurance and an investment arm, has over 44,000 shareholders.