Bank of Jamésie
 | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Finance |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Jamésie Rhodesian Virgin Islands |
Key people | Trevor Kingston (President and CEO) |
| Products | Financial services |
| Parent | Bank of Bethlehem |
| Website | bankofjamesie.com.rh |
The Bank of Jamésie is a bank founded and based in the Rhodesian Overseas Territory of Jamésie. It is the second-largest bank in the territory with 44 percent of the market share. The Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Bethlehem and is one of four licensed banks in Jamésie. Bank of Jamésie offers full commercial and retail banking services on Jamésie and the Rhodesian Virgin Islands. The Bank has total of 5 locations, 3 branches and 15 ATMs in Jamésie and 2 branches and 10 ATMs on the Rhodesian Virgin Islands.
History
Eric Bennett and a group of local merchants founded the Bank of Jamésie in 1985, as a second bank to compete with Ruffer. The Bank took over a branch that Greystone Bank had established on the island in 1981 after it became a Rhodesian territory.
In 1999, Bennett through his company, Bennett Financial Group acquired a 45.9% stake in the bank before formally taking full ownership a year later. It was run by Bennett till 2011 when he arrest for his part in the governmental corruption scandal.
After Bennett's arrest and a bank run accured, after an accidental release of a letter sent from Governor Nancy Chen Kelly to the Reserve Bank of Rhodesia (RBOR) outlining her concerns with Bank of Jamésie. Depositors, fearing the worst, withdrew about 20% of deposits from the bank. Which lead the RBOR to place Bank of Jamésie into conservatorship in June 2011.
After 2 years under conservatorship, the RBOR put the Bank of Jamésie and its assets up for auction. The Bank was reacquired by the Bank of Bethlehem for R$13.5 million. After which it became known as, "Bank of Jamésie, a division of Bank of Bethlehem” with little to no change or layoffs. Following Greystone’s takeover they announced the appointment of Trevor Kingston, a Vice President at Bank of Kingston, as the new President and CEO. He’s the banks first permanent President and CEO since conservatorship.
In April 2019 Bank of Jamésie acquired National Bank, which was based on the Rhodesian Virgin Islands, for R$58 million. National Bank will rebrand to Bank of Jamésie before the end of 2019. Till then it will continue to operate as National Bank.
Operations
In addition to offering full commercial and retail banking services, Bank of Jamésie also provides securities and advisory services through its Island Advisors, a registered Broker/Dealer and Registered Investment Advisor.