NBS earns $180M from Berbice Bridge in 2011

April 4, 2012 | By Kaieteur News | By Leonard Gildarie
– disburses record-breaking $4.2B in mortgages, earns $772M profit
– moving to increase mortgage ceiling to $15M
At the end of 2011, mortgage lender New Building Society (NBS) had recovered $584M, representing almost one-third of its total investments in the Berbice River Bridge. The society, weeks before it commissions its spanking multi-million-dollar new headquarters on Avenue of the Republic, also last year saw its highest profit of $772M – a whopping 34% more than the previous year. It also disbursed mortgage advances totaling $4.2B, another record – 43% higher than the previous year.

“Our investment in the Berbice Bridge continued to yield the highest returns amongst out investments portfolio. At the end of the year, we have earned and received interest totaling approximately $179M. Our total earnings’ to date is approximately $584M or 32% of our total investment in this venture,” the Society revealed in its 2011 Annual Report.
NBS has reportedly invested over $1.8B (US$9M) in the Berbice Bridge which was commissioned in January 2009, purchasing the shares of fallen insurance giant, CLICO.

The Society’s outgoing chairman and now the Minister of Labour, Dr. Nanda Gopaul, who is due to step down after the April 28th Annual General Meeting (AGM), in his report, said that 78% of NBS’s liquid cash is invested in Treasury Bills, earning 2% interest annually.
According to Gopaul, the $772M profit was achieved despite NBS reducing its mortgage rates for lower, middle and higher income mortgagors.
Total mortgages increased by 9% and were $23.5B at the end of 2011.
“With respect to those persons who are in arrears, they are generally mortgagors who genuinely fall on bad times or those who are bad managers of their affairs or those who have no intention of paying. Fortunately, the percentage for the last category is very small, where the overwhelming majority of borrowers view their repayment obligations very seriously,” the outgoing Chairman said in his final report. At the end of 2011, NBS’s savings balance was $38.474M or 85% of total assets and had grown by 8% over the previous year.
However, Gopaul warned that prices of imported building materials have affected mortgages.
“The prices for imported building materials have increased to the extent that it will cost substantially higher to build a home than say two years ago. To meet these challenges our membership approved an increase in our ceiling for any one security last year from $12M to $15M. This, however, will have to be assented to by the Minister of Finance before it becomes operable. We are working towards making this a reality, so that our financial resources can be more beneficially utilised to the advantage of our members and customers.”
NBS, which has been in existence over the 72 years, saw its Loans Portfolio accounting for 51% of its Total Assets, says Ahmad Khan, NBS Chief Executive Officer/Secretary.