ST JAMES, Jamaica— Septimus ‘Bob’ Blake, chief executive officer (CEO) at the National Commercial Bank (NCB), is reassuring Jamaicans at home and across the Diaspora that it is safe to place their savings and investments in Jamaican banks.

Blake’s consolation has come against the background of recent speculations and widespread negative sentiments among Jamaicans questioning the safety of customers’ money in the country’s banking system, following the Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) debacle.

READ: Massive employee fraud detected at SSL

Blake, who is also president of the Jamaica Bankers Association (JBA), was responding to questions during an interview, as he led a team of senior managers at NCB’s staging of their corporate mingle event, held recently at the Half Moon Resort in Montego Bay, St James.

“The banking system in Jamaica is safe. Whilst there has been much publicity in recent times in respect of reported incidents of internal fraud in the banking system, there in fact has been a general decline in annual bank fraud- related losses over the past five years. In relation to profitability and regulatory capital, bank fraud losses remain quite low, which indicate strength and soundness. The Bank of Jamaica’s most recent financial stability report (2022) reflects the trends in the various types of fraud and the effective actions taken by the industry to combat same,” Blake affirmed.

He added: “At NCB, we are focused on the prevention, detection and investigation of all types of fraud, and in particular, occupational fraud (internal) for which we have taken a strident and zero tolerance approach. Once we detect it, we turn it over to law enforcement without fear or favour.”

Blake said NCB continues to invest in the technologies to ensure that they continuously upgrade their internal control environment. This action, he said, helps to surface and close any vulnerability that may exist.

He added that the Jamaican banking sector has withstood all major shocks over the past decade and the performance remains strong.

“Jamaica has a resilient banking sector by capital, profitability, liquidity and the controls available to us. There will be incidents, but we have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that we learn from past events and improve our effectiveness at keeping fraud at a minimum,” the seasoned banker declared.

Blake drew reference to the fact that Jamaica’s banking sector had withstood the global financial crisis in 2008; it had gone through the IMF and the Jamaica Debt Ex-change programmes; and had more recently, absorbed the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. These examples, he said, are among the strongest indicators that Jamaica’s banking system is very resilient and safe.

He informed that at its year-end (September 30, 2022), NCB Jamaica Limited had an asset base of $835 billion, and the net profit for September 2022 stood at $13.9 billion.

“Our assets are primarily funded by our deposits and our capital. We continue to grow our loans and asset base,” Blake stated.

He said it is as a result of the strong confidence that their customers have in the bank why they have seen it fit to continue to place their trust in NCB.

“We are profitable; we are liquid with the appropriate levels of capital to address any unforeseen situation and absorb future shocks better,” Blake emphasised.