$45 MILLION in FCB Director Fees! Howai, do something, now! Eat ah - TopicsExpress

$45 MILLION in FCB Director Fees! Howai, do something, now! Eat ah food bankers.... -------------- An Open Letter to Finance Minister Larry Howai Are First Citizens Directors being quietly over-paid? In preparation for the May 12, 2014 First Citizens Annual Meeting on Monday, I have noted that the 2013 First Citizens IPO Prospectus discloses that the Board of Directors comprises Nyree Alfonso (Chairman), Anil Seeterram (Deputy Chairman), Sharon Christopher (Group Corporate Secretary), Larry Nath (Group CEO), Marlene Juman, Vishnu Musai, Ramish Ramanand, Rishi Baddaloo, John Tang Nain, Anthony Mohammed, Ved Seereeram and Shobee Jacelon. The Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Corporate Secretary and CEO among others hold several directorships, on the Boards of many of Group’s subsidiaries, in addition to their substantive positions on the Board of the First Citizens Bank. For instance the Chairman Nyree Alfonso holds at least 7 other chairmanships on 7 of the Group’s subsidiary companies namely: (1) First Citizens (St. Lucia) Limited, (2) First Citizens Financial Services (St. Lucia) Limited, (3) First Citizens Investment Services Limited, (4) First Citizens Brokerage & Advisory Services Limited, (5) First Citizens Investment Services (Barbados) Limited, (6) First Citizens Bank (Barbados) Limited and (7) FCCR First Citizens Costa Rica S.A. - whilst multiple directorships are also held by S. Christopher - 10, L. Nath - 8, V. Seereeram - 7, A. Seeterram - 6, S. Jacelon - 5, M. Juman - 6, A. Mohammed - 4 etc. Please forgive my ignorance but is there a shortage of directors and does the first example above mean that the Chairman collects 8 different sets of director fees and if so, what precisely are the total monthly fees that she actually receives (inclusive of any travelling, telephone and entertainment allowances etc) versus the amount to which she is entitled? Since if the above interpretation is correct it also means the non-executive Chairman’s total fees would be in excess of $63,000.00 per month. I shall be grateful if you could also provide the relevant information for all other directors bearing in mind that according to the State Enterprise Performance Monitoring Manual 2011, First Citizens qualifies as a Group A company and as such the monthly rates for Board Fees and Allowances as determined by the Government are payable as follows: Chairman $10,000.00, Deputy Chairman $7,500.00 and Director $5,000.00. - whilst the corresponding Travelling Allowances are: Chairman $1,000.00, Deputy Chairman $750.00 and other Directors $500.00. It is noteworthy that according to the document Monthly Fees and Allowances for Directors in Subsidiary Companies are not to exceed Fees and Allowances approved for Group ‘C’ Companies as follows: Chairman $6,500.00, Deputy Chairman $4,800.00 and Director $3,200.00 (allowances are the same as previously stated). Moreover it expressly states that “Fees and Allowances...shall be the full compensation paid to Board Members in consideration for services on the Board and any subcommittees of the Board.” I have also noted that at Page 75, Note 32 of the 2013 Audited Financial Statements, under the rubric Administrative Expenses there is no line-item that clearly identifies the total cost of fees and allowances paid to directors. Is one to deduce that this amount is the $45.2 million line-item described as “Other administrative expenses?” Thank you and I look forward to your response. Peter Permell Minority Shareholder