…And B.B. Holdings discusses regional banking
That was the Civil Society Forum. But the Private Sector Forum held earlier provided an opportunity for dialogue on global economic issues. To get an idea of economic and banking issues, we spoke to representatives from B.B. Holdings Limited, a major investor in the island and parent company of the Belize Bank. The interview with the new C.E.O. of B.B. Holdings, Doctors Lyndon Guiseppi and Board Member, Euric Bobb was featured on Open Your Eyes breakfast show this morning. Guiseppi touched on financial collaborations with Belize and shared his opinion on how the C.S.M.E. is expected to affect the banking industry while Bobb talked about the Bank’s strategies to face the current economic crisis.
Lyndon Guiseppi, C.E.O., BB Holdings Ltd.
“I have been involved in some of the key bond financing in Belize for the government of Belize. I would say in the last five years when I was at R.B.T.T. Mutual Bank, we probably raised between two to three hundred million U.S. dollars for various projects and for the Government of Belize. So Belize is not an unfamiliar territory for me and it’s a place I have enjoyed working and I hope to continue working in Belize.”
Dr. Euric Bobb, Board Member, BB Holdings Ltd.
“The general idea is to get a footprint in the Caribbean where B.B. Holdings will be a Caribbean bank and not just a Belize Bank. Of course, another advantage of getting a geographical spread is that you spread your risk. Not all countries go up and down at the same time so that’s a very important aspect of in a way preparing the group in a way that it can whether the storms a lot better than in the past.”
Lyndon Guiseppi
“There’s nothing that banks and establishments in the service industry can do now that they can do better in the C.S.M.E. In other words, banks have already taken the leverage and have extended themselves overseas and offshore in setting up establishments in other jurisdictions and doing cross border transactions. So now we in the banking sector is leading the C.S.M.E.”
