In all major newspapers of the Dominican Republic (ListÃn Diario, El Caribe, etc) this appeared about a day or two ago.
Apparently,
Banreservas (this is not the Federal Reserve equivalent, that would be the Central Bank. This is a normal commercial bank), which is the largest bank in the DR (one of the most profitable companies owned by the Dominican government, initially founded by Trujillo and then confiscated by the Dominican government in 1961 or 1962 along with all the other Trujillo properties and companies -which was just about everything, the old saying "owning the country" he took it seriously-) and the only one owned by the government though functions independently (no influence from political parties and/or whoever is the president), one the categories of
The Best Bank of the DR 2023 and
The Best Bank of the Caribbean.
Searching a bit about this award, found the article of
Global Finance in English.
The best banks in several Caribbean countries/territories are the following (in no particular order).
Bahamas - Scotiabank Bahamas
Barbados - Republic Bank
Bermuda - Butterfield Bank
Cayman Islands - Scotiabank Cayman Islands
Dominican Republic - Banreservas
Jamaica - National Commercial Bank Jamaica
Puerto Rico - FirstBank
Trinidad & Tobago - Republic Bank
Turks & Caicos - Scotiabank Turks & Caicos
US Virgin Islands - First Bank
Also, according to the Global Finance article (all money figures are in US dollars):
Quote:
Banreservas, our best bank in the region, was able to seize the many opportunities created by this thriving environment and post best-in-class growth throughout the year.
The bank’s deposits reached a remarkable $14.2 billion, up by $1.3 billion from 2021, giving the bank an estimated 41% market share in the domestic Dominican banking system. Furthermore, the private sector deposits rose to $9.9 billion, while the public sector’s reached $4.3 billion.
Banreservas also achieved outstanding profitability ratios, with a 2.3% return on assets, for 6% growth compared to December 2021; and a 34.9% return on equity (ROE), for 8% growth in the same period. In addition, the bank demonstrated its financial strength through a solvency ratio of 13.8%, a risk coverage of 752.7% and a 68.7% efficiency rate.
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https://www.gfmag.com/magazine/may-2...f%20the%20year.
Banreservas headquarters in Santo Domingo, DR as seen in Google Street View. Don't be fooled by the size of the office building. As the bank grew they created more offices in the city. Personally, I think that's stupid. Better to build a new taller highrise and put all their corporate offices in one place. The building itself was built in the 1990's, designed by a Dominican architect (can't remember his name at the moment) and is suppose to give a sense of being a strong bank, as in suppose to be safe to put your money.
Before then, this was their headquarters in the Colonial Zone. It was built by Trujillo and was considered a "marvel of modern architecture in the DR," but there was also criticism as their were historic colonial buildings where it now stands. Back then there wasn't the preserving historic buildings to the level that exist now. Despite this no longer is the headquarters, the building still belongs to Banreservas and it has a branch which on the inside is the nicest of all their branches (in Art Deco, a style invented in the USA), in my opinion.
According to Global Finance…
Quote:
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In December 2022, Banreservas became the first bank in the Dominican Republic to reach the impressive benchmark of $18.1 billion in assets.
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https://www.gfmag.com/magazine/may-2...f%20the%20year.
In terms of this, it has to be one of the richest banks in the Caribbean. If not, it must be up there along with several in neighboring Puerto Rico. It would be interesting to see the assets amounts of banks in Central America, to see if Banreservas is comparable to them. I have a hunch with the exception of Guatemala and /or Panama, it probably surpasses in size the biggest one in each country.
Every year this bank ranks among the top 10 best companies to work for in the DR because of their salaries level, extensive benefits and other perks. For example, they have two social clubs juat for their employees and their families, one in Santo Domingo and another in Santiago.
Satellite view of the Santo Domingo club.
Main entrance to their Santo Domingo social club.
Satellite view of their Santiago club. Noticeably smaller than the Santo Domingo club.
Entrance to their Santiago social club. About ten years ago I went to this one as was of the incited to see a baseball game there and that place is super nice. As you enter it feels like a resort. lol Another plus is that you can sit on the bleechers and every now and then airplanes would fly low enough near there on final to land at Cibao International Airport that you don't need binoculars to see what airlines each airplane belongs too. I bet with binoculars you can probably see the people staring from the windows. I also went to their little food shop and ordered a slice of a pineapple pizza. It was the worst pizza slice I have ever eaten. The only reason I ate it all was because I was hungry, but if it wasn't for that it would had gone to the garbage. I think I'm still traumatize by that. If I ever go back there, I'm taking my own food. lol
From my understanding, employees of Banreservas can attend both clubs.
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