The Reserve Bank of Fiji has confirmed that a licence has been granted to Bred Bank (Fiji) Limited to operate the country’s newest commercial bank.
Bred Bank has appointed Indo-Fijian Satish Deb as its Chief Executive. He was previously treasurer of the Bank of South Pacific.
Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor Barry Whiteside said, “There is still work to be done in terms of securing premises, hiring staff and putting in place systems and procedures before the (Bred) bank becomes fully operational.
“However, compliance with licensing requirements have been met to the Reserve Bank’s satisfaction. Bred Bank (Fiji) Limited anticipated opening its doors to the public in September 2012,” he said.
Bred Bank (Fiji) Limited will be part of the French banking group BCPE, the second largest banking group in France comprising 36 regional banks.
The ‘Bred Bank’ (acronym for ‘Bred Banque Populaire’) is the largest banking network within the BCPE Group and the Bred overseas banking network comes under its wholly owned subsidiary Compagnie Financere de la Bred which had applied for the licence to operate in Fiji.
The Bred Banking brand has expanded with 45 subsidiaries across France, Europe, Eastern and South Africa, South East Asia, Tahiti, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. It also holds minority interests in Bank of Queensland, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in Australia.
COFIBRED applied for a banking licence in June 2011 and the Reserve Bank Board of Directors accorded its conditional approval in October 2011.
Since then, the principals have moved swiftly in satisfying the conditions, which included independent due diligence checks by the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
Mr Whiteside welcomed this development as positive for the country with Bred Bank proposing to bring its brand of banking that has proved successful in other countries.
He said entering a market with well-established players will be a huge challenge but augured well for Fiji.
“There is also potential in deepening commercial ties with countries of the Pacific, in which Bred is represented, particularly the French territories and in establishing links through the Bred network globally,” Mr Whiteside said.
Source: The Jet Newspaper
