Director's Report

Girobank’s Managing Board is more than satisfied and proud of the bank’s performance in 2007. This past year the bank’s balance sheet total has grown from ANG 708,595,000 in 2006 to no less than ANG 1,206,213,000, which is the largest growth ( 70.2%) in the bank’s history.

Due to the continuing growth of our bank it became necessary to hire more personnel in 2007. In the meantime, the expansion and renovation of our branches at Jan Noorduynweg and in the Colon Shopping Center, initiated towards the end of 2006, was finalized, making it possible to accommodate more employees and satisfy the need of our customers, who again grew in number.
Girobank also opened a new branch at the Zuikertuin Food & Shopping Mall in 2007. This branch is unique in the sense that it has extended opening hours during the week and is open on Saturdays as well.

Notwithstanding all of these investments, which involve a considerable amount of money spent on remodeling, equipment, furnishings, as well as additional personnel, Girobank succeeded to close the year with an after tax profit of ANG 7,164,000, which is a decrease of only 11.3% as compared to 2006. Loans and advances to customers have increased by 15.5%, whereas customer deposits (onshore and offshore) increased from ANG 566,910,000 to ANG 1,064,771,000 ( 87.8%). The bank’s total equity for 2007 amounts to ANG 79,106,000, an increase of 10%.

During the course of 2007 Girobank continued to support and motivate our sports practicing youth as well as the public in general by sponsoring and giving donations to many social and sports events and -organizations.

Through the ‘Fundashon Bo Motivashon, Nos Kontribushon’ Girobank devotes special time and attention to the education of our youngsters. This foundation was established especially with the object to give financial aid in the form of scholarships to the less fortunate in our society, who are anxious to continue their studies either at local or at regional educational institutions. In 2007 two scholarships were granted, which brings the total number of granted scholarships to three.

In our continued efforts to make the public more conscious as far as their spending habit is concerned, in 2007 Girobank organized a number of ‘budget workshops’ entitled ‘Mi stabilidat finansiero’, which proved to be a great success.
After launching a new youth savings plan in 2006 (nameless then), in 2007 the ‘Oinki’ savings plan established itself as one of the most solid and best known saving products for kids on our island. The blue piggy mascot actually became famous and loved by young and old.

In line with our growth strategy Girobank formulated a business plan for the upcoming five years (2008 u/I 2012). In this business plan our vision, mission and values are well defined. The bank’s commitment to the financial stability of our community is strongly identified in the business plan, which also appears from our current slogan: ‘We are committed to your financial stability’.

To strengthen our Managing Board, in November of 2007 Milouzka Sprock, former finance manager of our bank, who in the past years has excelled as a hard working, dedicated and inspiring staff member, was appointed Assistant Managing Director of Girobank.

Girobank remains confident as far as the future of our country is concerned. We have already seen a growth in the economy in 2007, which is predicted by the Central Bank of the Netherlands Antilles to continue in 2008. On the other hand, there is some concern about the growing inflation mainly due to the increase of oil prices, which will most probably result in further increases in prices of all types of products, including the articles of first necessity. Furthermore, the payment of certain debts of the Netherlands Antilles by The Netherlands, which may take place later this year, will undoubtedly lead to a decrease in the interest market which of course is unfavorable for the local banks. However, we will be able to compensate the decrease in interest income by applying a more efficient cost control and becoming more competitive on the market, thus attracting more customers. Girobank also realizes that lower interest rates will cause the number of loan applications to increase and that we need to grab that opportunity to attract new customers. This will inspire us even more to reach the level of perfection we aim at in the rendering of our services.

Again, our sincerest appreciation goes out to our team of employees, all the members of our Board of Supervisory Directors and our shareholders. These accomplishments and results would not have been possible without their continuing hard work and dedication.

Finally, we would like to extend our heart-felt gratitude to our customers for their support and confidence during 2007. They may rest assured that we will continue to use our best efforts to satisfy all their financial needs and remain dedicated in our strive to continue to expand and improve our services and develop attractive new products.

On behalf of  the Board of Managing Directors,
Eric Garcia
Manuel Suena
Curaçao, April 22, 2008

Read our Financial highlights 2007 please click here
Read more about our Financial highlights 2006 please click here
Read our Financial highlights 2005 please click here