Tough year

All banks hate red ink but this year the National Bank of Dominica (NDB) has some spilled right on its doorstep.

"Despite registering an increase in most income categories, we are far from satisfied with our net results, given that we ended the year with a $6.2 million loss," Michael Bird, the NBD Managing Director, stated in the bank's 2013 Annual Report.

Both Bird and Anthony John, the Board Chairman, have blamed "the continued challenging economic conditions" of the major economies for the downturn in fortunes for Dominica's largest bank.

"As we reflect on the fiscal year 2012-2013, banks across the region continued to be impacted by a period of highly challenging economic times. Sluggish economies resulted in credit quality issues and lower demand for services," John said in the report to shareholders who are expected to meet 24th January at the NBD Financial Centre in Canefield.

At that meeting John will confirm to owners of NBD that, "taking the net performance of the Bank into consideration, the Board of Directors resolved not to pay a dividend for the fiscal year 2012-2013" as he stated in the report distributed to shareholders earlier this month.

This is not the first time that the NBD has reported major losses; over the last 15 years there were losses in 2010 ($2,336,000); 2009 ($2,755,000); and 2006 ($8,119,000). In 2012, the previous reporting period, the bank registered profits of $1,525,000. But John reports that a few areas of the bank's activities showed positive results.

"We entered the 2012-2013 fiscal year anticipating some successes and challenges. Among our achievements were: overall revenue increased by 5% over 2012; total assets increased by $7.1 million; loans and advances before provisioning grew by 1% despite a soft economy and the resulting lower demand; deposits increased by 2%; market share for loans and advances and deposits were 54% and 52% respectively," the Chairman wrote.