First Citizens

The First Citizens Group is one of the leading financial services groups in Trinidad & Tobago. We offer a full range of retail, corporate and merchant banking services as well as asset management, trustee and brokerage services. The Group is headquartered in Trinidad & Tobago. First Citizens Bank, which is the largest part of the Group, has an extensive retail branch network in Trinidad & Tobago with a large deployment of ATM and point of sale service in both islands.

In 2009 First Citizens acquired Caribbean Money Market Brokers Limited (now rebranded as First Citizens Investment Services Limited), the largest full service securities trading company in the Caribbean, with offices in Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, St. Vincent and St. Lucia. In January 2012 the Group ventured into the Central American market and opened a representative office in Costa Rica, which is expected to propel the First Citizens brand abroad.

The Group’s growth and expansion continued in August 2012 with the acquisition of Butterfield Bank in Barbados (now called First Citizens Bank [Barbados] Limited). These acquisitions round out the services that the Group offers its customers, both local and regional, making it possible for us to address every financing or investment need of our customer base. They also provide a physical footprint for the Group in the Caribbean region.

First Citizens is the highest-rated indigenous financial institution in the English-speaking Caribbean, with long term foreign currency counterparty credit ratings of Baa1 from Moody’s and BBB+ from Standard and Poor’s. The Group has successfully issued fixed income paper, which was over-subscribed in the international financial market, with the most recent being a US$175 million placement in February 2011.

In the year under review, the Bank won Bank Of The Year – Trinidad & Tobago and was named one of the Top 1,000 Banks In The World (The Banker Magazine). Other awards bestowed on the Bank over the years include: “the safest bank in the English-speaking Caribbean” in 2011 and 2010 (Global Finance Magazine); Best Bank In Trinidad & Tobago 2010 (World Finance); Bank Of The Year 2009 (The Banker Magazine, Latin Finance and World Finance).

Over the years the Group has introduced a number of innovations locally, including Internet banking and mobile banking. It has also been recognized on several occasions for excellence in innovation, communications technology and e-commerce by the local Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago. Additionally, First Citizens has been involved in financing a number of landmark projects across the region.