The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Nassau-based financial services provider yesterday said it was “bucking the trend” of contraction in the Bahamian financial services sector with the launch of its own private bank and trust subsidiary, its chairman telling Tribune Business: “It simply gives us less competition”.

Sterling Global Financial, the real estate financier and equity fund manager, which has more than $9 billion in assets under management, and operations in the Bahamas and Cayman Islands, announced the launch of its Sterling Bank & Trust.

Speaking with Tribune Business, Sterling Global Financial’s chairman, David Kosoy, said: “I have always believed that when people are selling real estate, I’m buying, and when people are buying, I’m selling.

“It is the same with the banking industry. I think that if you’re good at what you do, give good service and products, you will win.”

He added: “All of the contraction here will simply give us less competition. There is contraction for many reasons we don’t have. We’re probably the only compliant bank in the world because we can start with a fresh slate.

“All these other banks have compliance issues. They don’t want to deal with that and they are shutting down here. There was just a bank the other day where they lost their correspondent, and 30 clients wanted to come to us. We will take them if they’re compliant; we’re very strict.”

Earlier this month, Sterling Global Financial unveiled a new website. It features a client portal where investors can manage banking and fiduciary services securely online from any device.

“Instead of buying the bankrupt bank it belonged to, we bought the portal at a much reduced rate and we hired the people behind the portal,” Mr Kosoy said. 

“It was much better than starting from scratch. That’s why we got the portal. All the clients of that bank want to come to us because of the portal. We will be licensing our portal to corporate financial institutions  and banks in other jurisdictions to make back some of the money invested in it.”

He added: “I think we can make a difference. We intend to give people great service and products. In a low interest rate environment, if we can give someone a little bit better than low we’re going to win.

‘Since we started we haven’t had one nickel in loss of capital. We have had  a good track record, we’re conservative and we give decisions. If you go to other banks today and ask for a mortgage, they may take months. We give the commitment the same day.

“We’re a little more nimble than the big banks. We have many big banks right now wanting to partner with us because we can underwrite better than they can. I think that we have the practical ability to do it as well as the size. That is the reason that we decided to go into the banking business,” Mr Kosoy said.

“Our first quarter we have been in business we were profitable. I think that’s unheard of because we could do some innovative things that other people couldn’t have in big institutions.”

Sterling Bank & Trust, which will immediately be available for current Sterling Global financial clients, will operate out of the firm’s East Bay Street location.

“We have a great team. Between the two we have over 40 people in our office. We probably hired six people in the last two months and we will probably hire more,” said Mr Kosoy.