Republic Bank to Open New UWI Branch in 2016

Caption: At centre, with shovel: Derwin Howell, Executive Director, Republic Bank, turns the sod at the site of the new branch - Republic Bank UWI. Flanking Mr. Howell are (from left to right): Marcel Labban, Technical Director, Unicom Ltd; Fr. Arnold Francis, Parish Priest, Our Lady of Fatima RC; Maria Fraser, Branch Sales Manager, UWI Branch; Annette Wattie, Regional Sales Manager – East, Central & Tobago; Professor Clement Sankat, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal; Suresh Maharaj, Director of Facilities Management; Ronald Harford, Chairman, RBL; Nigel Baptiste, Deputy Managing Director; Michelle Palmer-Keizer, General Manager, Group Marketing and Communications; Farid Antar, General Manager, Corporate Operations and Process Improvement and Mark Bishop, Senior Manager, Premises.

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuesday August 18, 2015:Republic Bank and The University of West Indies (UWI), turned the sod of the new Republic Bank UWI Branch, last Friday, August 14, 2015. The ceremony was held at the construction site, on Circular Road, St. Augustine, opposite the UWI St. Augustine Campus.

Republic Bank’s Executive Director, Derwin Howell, in sharing the inspiration behind the vision of the new Campus branch said, “it was in 1961, that we opened a small branch on campus… Over the course of the next five decades, our relationship with both the University and the community continued to grow and it moved even beyond our commitment to provide signature financial products and services… we are always eager to do more, especially in novel, groundbreaking ways...both figuratively and literally.”

This addition will be almost three times the size of the existing branch, and will focus on providing superior customer service to students and staff of the UWI Campus and the wider St. Augustine Community.

In commemoration of the ceremony, St. Augustine Campus Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Clement Sankat, presented a foundation stone for the Republic Bank UWI, Campus Branch, to the Chairman of Republic Bank, Mr. Ronald Harford. The unveiling of the stone, between the two visionaries of this project, cemented the newest partnership between Republic Bank and The University of the West Indies. Professor Sankat made the point that, “it is through these types of partnerships (commercial as well as philanthropic), that Universities such as ours can continue to be transformational and make a significant positive impact upon our collective development.”

The UWI St. Augustine Campus has entered into a landmark private sector-university partnership with Republic Bank. Construction, on prime land of The University, is the first phase of a broader, more transformative partnership with the the future development of a modern ‘Northern Plaza’ at the Campus entrance. This new-development is part of the Professor Sankat’s Master-plan, for the expansion of the UWI Campus, as it will create an innovative hub for the Staff and Students.