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| Regional Awards for Excellence 2013: Central America and the Caribbean | |
| Caribbean winners by country Bahamas Dominican Republic Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago |
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Bahamas |
| The Bahamas is heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. The former experienced growth thanks to the recovery in the US, but the latter was affected by regulatory reform and continuing financial fallout from the eurozone. Commonwealth Bank was not exempt from the industry’s challenges, but still managed to deliver strong results while increasing capital reserves. The bank boosted its tier 1 capital: the ratios of capital to risk-adjusted assets were tier 1 capital 16.3% and total capital 25.28%, compared with 15.6% and 24.3% at year-end 2011. The bank’s net income declined by 30.6% in 2012, but thanks to its focus on cost control during this part of the business cycle, its efficiency ratio actually improved to 40.2%. Commonwealth’s return on equity and return on assets both fell, to 16.6% and 2.1% respectively, reflecting the bank’s lower profitability, but remain strong and the bank is well positioned for growth. |
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