The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) has recorded a dip in its after-tax profits which, by the end of the year 2017, was $1.520 billion compared to the $2.043 billion in 2016.
This is according to the bank’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017, which was published in Guyana Times on Friday; the profit before taxation was $1.881 billion against $2.518 billion. The financial records reflect a 25.5 per cent drop in the taxed profits. 
It was recorded that the Interest Income last year went down to $5.044 billion against $5.994 billion the previous year; while Interest Expense was $789 million compared to $912 million in 2016. Meanwhile, the Net Interest Income also saw a decline in 2017 with $4.254 billion against $5.082 billion recorded in the previous year.
On the other hand, GBTI registered a significant increase in Other Income last year, with $1.626 billion against $1.133 billion in 2016.
Furthermore, it was outlined that Operating Expenses also went up to $3.412 billion in 2017 compared to $2.798 billion in the 2016 financial year. Meanwhile, provisioning for bad loans last year was pegged at $587 million against $899 million in 2016.
Additionally, the bank’s earnings per share last year declined to 38.02 per cent against 51.09 per cent in 2016. The financial statements further outlined that loans and advances went down to $44.7 billion last year compared to $45.5 billion in 2016.
Furthermore, the total deposits in 2017 were recorded at $81.6 billion, compared to $82.8 billion the previous year. Moreover, GBTI paid a total of $600 million in Dividends last year, which reflects a drop from the $680 million paid the previous year.
The bank’s financial records also outlined that loss to an unnamed associate company went up to a whopping $620 million in 2017 from a mere $143 million recorded in 2016.
In its Interim Financial Report for the period January to June 2017, it was noted that GBTI’s financial performance was, no doubt, due in part to the fraud perpetrated on the bank earlier in the year by gold dealer Siddiqui Rasul who defrauded the bank of some $941 million.
GBTI’s Chairman Robin Stoby in May 2017, had told GBTI shareholders that the bank would recover the $941 million lost in a fraudulent transaction allegedly conducted by Rasul.
Stoby had said that while, in the short-term, the bank would have to make provisions for the loss, affecting earnings for the year, the Board’s intention was to make an insurance claim for the money, in addition to conducting civil proceedings in an attempt to recover as much of the funds as possible.
Rasul, owner of SSS Minerals Trading, was on April 3, 2017, charged with six counts of fraud, wherein it was alleged that between March 21 and March 22, 2017, at Bartica, with intent to defraud, he obtained from GBTI $96 million, $290 million, $89 million, $45 million, $298 million and $138 million by falsely pretending that he had cash in a Citizens Bank account to honour cheques that he had written. Rasul has denied the charges, and has been placed on a total of $3 million bail.
