CIBC FirstCaribbean Managing Director, The Bahamas, Marie Rodland-Allen has stressed that a letter from the bank to some of its customers, which raised alarms across the Caribbean, was not about a fee increase. Any changes to fees have to be approved by appropriate regulators and the bank must give customers appropriate notice.
Still, Rodland-Allen acknowledged that the letter had caused some concern.
The letter was sent by Mark St. Hill - the bank's managing director for retail, businesses and international banking - to customers who had opened their accounts prior to 2007. Those customers are already operating under the rules disclosed in the letter.
In a statement released to Guardian Business in the wake of concerns raised as a result of the letter, Rodland-Allen said CIBC FirstCaribbean's plans for restructuring and the consolidation of its data centers had been presented to and approved by governments, social partners and regulators across the region.
"The restructuring exercise was announced in October of 2013 and continues until 2015," she said. "There will be no additional impact on our employees arising out of any of the matters addressed in the letter.
"We understand some of our customers may have concerns about the letter as it involves a change. We have been managing customers' concerns in our branches and through our call centers and we remain accessible to speak with our customers as they contact us," she said.
"We'd like to re-emphasize that the letter was not about a fee increase - any changes to fees have to be approved by our regulators and we must give our customers appropriate notice."
Rodland-Allen said the language contained in the agreement, which she said is similar to other financial institutions in the region, is designed to bring old customer agreements up-to-date.
"We have always abided by the terms of any agreements between the bank and its customers, and have always given the required 30 days' notice of any change. This will continue. Any contract between our customers and the bank resides in the jurisdiction in which that contract has been signed and is subject to the laws of that jurisdiction. This also will not change," she said.
The executive said that CIBC FirstCaribbean is made up of a number of legal entities in 17 countries, and that the change to the account mandates is "simply to update them to allow our individual companies, some of which are located in the same countries as our processing centers to work together in serving our customers."
"The change is not related to our FATCA programme, which is being managed separately and in conjunction with governments and regulators," she added.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian