National Commercial Bank (NCB) Jamaica Limited has been named Jamaica’s Best Foreign Exchange Provider 2021 by Global Finance magazine, for the third consecutive year.

“The last year’s upheaval in cross-border trade and supply chains highlights the importance of a good foreign exchange partner,” said Joseph D Giarraputo, publisher and editorial director of Global Finance. “In this rapidly changing world, banks with strong FX departments can guide their clients through turbulence.”

Global Finance is a well-known financial publication that selects the top financial institutions around the world across a number of categories each year. The criteria for choosing the Foreign Exchange Providers Award winners include transaction volume, market share, scope of global coverage, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative technologies. Global Finance also considered bank submissions, input from industry analysts, corporate executives and technology specialists.

Impacted by the global pandemic, the FX market proved a challenging one for financial institutions, as the demand for foreign currency far outpaced inflows. NCB prioritised by meeting the demands of the health-care and manufacturing sectors, in order to facilitate the purchasing of critical personal protective equipment and other supplies, and sustain the provision of goods and services from these key industries.

Peter Higgins, AGM, Foreign Exchange Trading at NCB, said: “Access to foreign exchange is vital to the sustainability of our local economy and welfare. We understand the role we play in ensuring that our small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and essential service providers have speedy access to the funds they need to keep us going. Our efforts throughout 2020 were focused on ensuring that despite the global crisis and widespread economic hardship experienced by so many, [and] we did not falter in our commitment to supporting business continuity.”