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NCB donating profits to Jamaica Education Initiative

Published:Friday | July 25, 2014 | 12:00 AM
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Businessman Bhasker Sharu (left) shakes hands with Sam James (right) shortly after arriving at the Monday Club meeting hosted by the National Commercial Bank at The Half Moon resort last Monday night. At centre is Norman Reid, NCB's regional manager (western region).
General manager at the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Capital Markets, Brian Boothe (left), gives a listening ear to Richard Whitfield (centre), owners' representative at Half Moon, A Rock Resort, and Dennis Cohen (right), deputy managing director at NCB.
National Commercial Bank Group Managing Director Patrick Hylton (right) has a hearty laugh with Peter Kellond during the bank's recent hosting of The Monday Club. - Contributed
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As part of its corporate social responsibility, annually, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) contributes significantly to nation building. One of its most recent innovations is the relaunch of the Jamaica Education Initiative (JEI).

Speaking at the annual staging of The Monday Club at the Half Moon Resort in Montego Bay, last Monday night, NCB's group managing director, Patrick Hylton, said NCB had relaunched its Jamaica Education Initiative programme in collaboration with its KeyCard credit card.

"We have committed that, for every dollar each cardholder spends, a percentage of that will go towards the programme. This initiative will allow cardholders to contribute towards the education of the Jamaican society at no cost to them," stated Hylton. "Essentially, we are sharing the profits from our KeyCard towards education. We have adopted over 20 schools islandwide into this programme so far, and this will be intensified come September."

The Monday Club is an exclusive all-male club of businessmen, bankers, lawyers, medical doctors, among other professionals, based in Montego Bay, who meet once monthly to socialise and network. Each meeting is usually sponsored by a corporate entity. The Monday Club is 13 years old.

Understanding clients

Hylton said further that the JEI relaunch was a reflection of NCB's ability to meet customer's financial needs and being a good partner in their growth and development aspirations. He informed club members that the bank plans to further cement this relationship by being creative in their financial solutions, better understanding their clients and the business environment.

In keeping with global trends, NCB recently launched its e-banking 'Bank-on-the-Go' platform in 14 of its branches. Hylton said, by the end of their financial year in September, it will be included in all 30-plus branches islandwide.

"We will shortly be adding a cheque deposit feature, which will allow customers to have their cheques scanned by a machine and return a printout of the cheque image.

Asked what cushion can NCB offer to its customers with the continuous devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, Hylton remarked that one option is to increase US currency earnings through export. Additionally, he said NCB had been working with its customers who have interests in exporting.

"We have also been encouraging customers who hold US denomination credit cards to switch to Jamaican currency cards to make repayment less expensive," Hylton stated.