GROS ISLET, St Lucia — Hunting a larger market share of what he deems to be a competitive banking environment, managing director of St Lucia-based 1st National Bank, Fletcher St Jean has his eyes set on a number of plans geared towards helping the institution further cement its presence across the eastern Caribbean.

Fresh from the completion of its acquisition of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) St Lucia, and the Republic Bank Trinidad & Tobago (RBTT) in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) — the first indigenous bank in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to accomplish this — outlining the bank’s road map for growth St Jean said the plan is to add more branches and ATMs as the financial institution moves to build out its infrastructural network while charting new innovations and adding more products.

“As we pursue new acquisitions and try to get into more markets, while positioning to fill the vacancies left by international banks that have moved out, we remain aggressive about our strategic plans for growth. We currently have nine branches in St Lucia and one in SVG, but we want to keep on expanding,” he said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer on the sidelines of the Caribbean Development Bank’s 53rd annual general meeting held in St Lucia this week.

“First, we plan to start within the eastern Caribbean region and later move into other countries such as Guyana, which hold a definite spot on our list,” he told the Caribbean Business Report.

Crafting ambitious plans to customise solutions for clients, particularly within the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) segment, St Jean said these and other initiatives from the bank, going forward, will be greatly enhanced by its much bigger plans for digital transformation.

“We are spending a lot of money on technology right now: This year alone we have spent over EC$3 million, with plans to spend another EC$5 million next year in this area as our aim is to go fully digital in every single aspect of the business. This will help to make our operations much easier and efficient as we also try to cut operational expenses,” he said, noting that by as early as August, customers will be given the opportunity to open bank accounts online.

The introduction of increased digital transactions, he said, will help to drastically reduce wait times for a number of services, resulting in better turnaround rates and better customer service delivery.

1st National, which commenced operations with just about EC$50,000, was after 1938 regarded as the penny bank of St Lucia — at the time allowing nationals to open bank accounts with as little as two cents. Known for several decades as St Lucia Co-operative Bank Limited, the institution, which later moved to adopt its current name, has over time grown its reputation to become one of the top financial institutions in the eastern Caribbean.

The institution’s asset base, which now touches approximately EC$1.7 billion, is expected to grow significantly post-acquisition. Impacted by rising operational costs since the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank’s profit, which the managing director said would have otherwise touched double-digit growth, stood at EC$4 million at the end of its last financial year, with plans now underway to drive recovery efforts.

“By 2025 we are anticipating growth in our net asset position to EC$2.25 billion, improving on our current base which now places us second in the market behind Bank of St Lucia,” St Jean said.

“We also remain on track to delivering one of the best years the bank has ever seen, with sales moving from EC$3 million at the start of the year to close at almost EC$39 million up to April,” he added.