As the Canadians Retreat, Two Caribbean Banks Are Buying the Region

Scotiabank and CIBC have spent years selling Caribbean units. Trinidad's Republic and Jamaica's NCB have been the buyers, and regional ownership of regional banking is quietly becoming the norm.

For a generation, the commanding heights of Caribbean banking were Canadian. That era has been unwinding. Scotiabank sold operations across several territories, and CIBC has moved to reduce its regional footprint, most recently in the deal that hands control of its Caribbean arm to Bermuda's Butterfield.

The buyers have often been Caribbean. Republic Financial Holdings of Trinidad and Tobago and NCB Financial Group of Jamaica have assembled multi-territory franchises out of assets the Canadians no longer wanted.

Regional ownership brings regional accountability, and a concentration question with it. A banking market consolidating into a few large local hands is more invested in the Caribbean's future and harder to discipline through competition. Regulators will spend the next decade balancing the two.