Sept. 30, 2002 – FirstBank's acquisition of the JP Morgan Chase Bank operations in the Virgin Islands is almost complete. A major hurdle in the bid was cleared late Friday afternoon when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation endorsed the planned buyout.
The transaction involves seven Chase branches in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands along with Chase Agency Services, an insurance agency on St. Thomas, and Chase Trade Inc., a foreign sales corporation management company with offices on St. Thomas and Barbados.
The FDIC approval was widely anticipated and it followed approval by the V.I. Banking Board in August. At the time, Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II had termed the acquisition a positive development for the territory's economy. James is chairman of the Banking Board.
Chase President Cassan Pancham predicted Saturday that there will be a very competitive banking environment once the deal closes in October. "We hope that FirstBank will become a significant competitor for both consumer and commercial bank services," Pancham said.
He said staff from both FirstBank and JP Morgan Chase have worked hard during the past few months "to put together our services and capabilities." Pancham, who is expected to become the manager of the combined operations, offered assurances that the market would "be happy" with the outstanding service delivered to the customer. Pancham is also president of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce.
Early Saturday morning, workmen were already out with a scissor-lift removing the Chase logos from the exterior of the St. Thomas Waterfront branch. Pancham declined to comment on whether Chase's last day of existence would be Oct. 12 and that the bank branches would reopen on Oct. 15 as FirstBank branches. "We are still working through a number of things before we can pin down a date," he said.
The final approval, which remains pending to date, comes from the BVI Financial Services Commission. "We must get the approval from the BVI before a date can be set for bringing the deal to a close," Pancham said.
The FirstBank presence will be evident at six branches on St. Thomas, at Port of Sale, Waterfront, GERS building, Estate Thomas, Tutu Park Mall and Red Hook; one branch in Cruz Bay, St. John; and three branches on St. Croix.
FirstBank and JP Morgan Chase reached agreement on the acquisition in February, after two and a half years of negotiations by Jeffrey Prosser and his V.I. Community Bank to buy the Chase interests ended unsuccessfully. Chase and VICB ended up suing each other, then "amicably resolved" their dispute, while mutually declaring the deal dead. Figures have never been mentioned for the purchase of the Chase interests, either in the case of the VICB or now with FirstBank.
Chase has more than 280 employees and assets, relative to the transaction, in excess of $500 million. First BanCorp. is an $8.2 billion financial holding company. As its subsidiary, FirstBank operates 92 financial service facilities throughout Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the U.S. mainland.
The Chase acquisition will add to the Puerto Rico bank's growing presence in the Virgin Islands. In 1999, FirstBank bought the Citibank branch at Port of Sale Mall on St. Thomas. In early 2000, it acquired First V.I. Federal Savings Bank, headquartered on St. Thomas with a branch on St. Croix.
The other major banks in the U.S. Virgin Islands include Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of St. Croix and the V.I. Community Bank.
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