Castries, Saint Lucia, Sunday November 7, 2021:– Following its successful 82nd Annual Shareholders Meeting on Thursday November 4, Saint Lucia’s 1st National Bank “can only look ahead an Build Back Better.”
That’s the word from a leading shareholder following the 2021 Shareholders Meeting at the Finance Administrative Center in Castries.
Shareholders went into the meeting with the recent controversial sudden but quiet resignation of their bank’s Managing Director casting shadows of doubt over the proceedings.
The day’s agenda did not include anything to do with the resignation of ex-Managing Director Johnathan Johannes.
Instead, it was mainly to amend the bank’s by-laws to allow for participation in such General Meetings (like Annual General and Shareholders’ Meetings) through online means.
The well-attended meeting did pass the resolution and also re-elected members of the outgoing Board of Directors.
The leading shareholder – herself a former senior banking officer with much administrative experience – told Saint Lucia News Online (SNO) she and others were “pleased with how the meeting went.”
“It dealt with institutional matters at hand and the bank’s business was conducted with the professionalism that has always attended how we operate,” she said.
According to the prominent shareholder, who preferred to maintain her anonymity (“to avoid unnecessary gossip”), “With the ex-MD’s unfortunate resignation now behind us, we can now move on to continue to build the island’s first indigenous bank.”
In her view, “We still have the leading edge among local banks and our list of Firsts started long before now, from our transition from St. Lucia Cooperative Bank to 1st National Bank in 2005…
“We must not forget the progress the bank made under all its previous MDs in the sixteen years since that transition, including by the late Andy Delmar, God bless his soul…”
She concluded, “Now that we have cleared the way for shareholders to have the option to participate in meetings by Zoom and other online means, we are also introducing another First for our members, and we will continue to do so…
“Right now, the road is clear and our collective will is there and we as shareholders can only continue to support our Board of Directors, so that we can continue to build our bank – and build it back even better!
