GBTI names director as new chief

Jan 28, 2018 News

New GBTI chief: Richard Isava

The Guyana Bank For Trade and Industry (GBTI) has named Richard Isava, a director, as its new chief.
Isava, who heads up the Guyana Americas Merchant Bank Inc, a sister company of the bank, was appointed by the Board of Directors to act in the capacity of Executive Director of the bank effective January 8, 2018.
“As Executive Director, Mr. Isava assumes overall charge and responsibility for the day to day management of the Bank, until further notice,” GBTI said in a statement published in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle.
Isava would have replaced Trinidadian, Larry Nath, who was earmarked for the Chief Executive Officer position but earlier this month “declined” the position after questions were raised over his track record.
Nath was linked to an insider’s trading scandal at the state owned First Citizens Bank in Trinidad.
In Guyana, when it became known late last year that he was named as the new chief for the bank, there were immediate questions about him being “fit and proper”, a criterion that he would have had to overcome before being confirmed in that sensitive postions.
Controlled by the Beharry Group, GBTI is one of the country’s largest banks but has been facing some troubles recently.
Earlier this month, Governor of Bank of Guyana, Dr. Gobind Ganga, disclosed that his office had received correspondence from GBTI which indicated that Nath will not be taking up the position. He said that GBTI has since named another person as the interim head.
Nath resigned from Trinidad’s First Citizens Bank in late 2014 amid a major investigation involving insider trading. Several other persons were sacked and the entire board of that state-owned bank resigned as a result.
In December, the Bank of Guyana and Guyana Securities Council both confirmed that they were probing how Nath was named as GBTI’s CEO.
At both institutions, Kaieteur News was told, there are regulations in place that compel financial institutions to provide evidence that their managers are “fit and proper” to hold those positions.
In Nath’s case, it was unclear whether his troubles in Trinidad, where the insider trading issue, was widely reported, was brought to the attention of both the Bank of Guyana and that of the Guyana Securities Council, as regulators of the financial sector.
The accusation was that Nath allegedly acquired shares in the state-owned bank which was going public. As a result, he and other executives made millions of dollars. Trinidad’s news was filled with the First Citizens Bank’s scandal.
The Trinidad Express, on December 4, 2014, reported that Nath, First Citizens’ CEO, resigned from the company with immediate effect. The Trinidad Guardian reported that First Citizens shares went on the market in the lead-up to 2014, with Nath acquiring 215,000 of the bank’s shares for TT$4.7 million.
The subsequent investigation had recommended disciplinary action be taken against Nath, deputy chief executive and corporate secretary, Sharon Christopher, and head of the legal department, Lindi Ballah-Tull.

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