Finally, some good news for NCB shareholders! Christmas money a run!

After a two-and-a-half-year wait, NCB chairman Michael Lee-Chin says shareholders will receive a dividend payment just in time for Christmas! 

According to NCB, investors who are shareholders by December 4, will receive a 50 cent per share dividend payment on December 18.  So if you own 1000 NCB shares, you’ll receive $500 in dividends.

This will be NCB’s first dividend payment in over two years- their last one being in May 2021. And it’s a big one, the total payout will add up to about $1.2 billion.

Lee-Chin said it was the shortest board meeting in the company’s history- less than five minutes. Everyone agreed! Give the people what they want- DIVIDENDS!

And of course, this was one of the biggest things Lee-Chin promised to work on when he took a more hands-on role in the company a few months ago.

NCB has taken a battering from investors over the lack of dividend payments. We’ve done a few videos explaining why they took that approach.

The short version is that as Jamaica’s largest financial institution, regulatory standard Basel three will require NCB to hold more cash on their books. Additionally, higher interest rates mean the value of some of NCB’s longer-term assets like bonds have changed.  Coupled with the volatility in local and global economies, this means NCB would also want to hold onto more cash, just in case, rather than paying out dividends. 

But there are a lot of people who depend on NCB for their long-term sustainability. A lot of people and companies depend on the success of NCB and their dividend payments. I mean, several pension funds invest in NCB to pay pensioners. So this dry spell has had serious implications for a lot of people.

But MLC said the company is focusing on customer satisfaction going forward and that includes dividends… and that’s the bottom line.