By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BANK of the Bahamas (BOB) yesterday confirmed around 30 jobs will be lost as part of its bid to return to sustained profitability following recent branch closures.

The BISX-listed institution said the lay-offs were related to the closures of its Exuma and Eight Mile Rock branches, plus a drive to cut costs as part of its turnaround strategy.

The Eight Mile Rock branch in Grand Bahama has already closed, while Exuma will shut its doors on December 31.

BOB’s executive management, in a statement, said the bank had started “the right-sizing of departments and units this week in another strategic move to improve operational efficiencies, with the ultimate goal of setting the bank back on a path to sustainable profitability”.

“The bank anticipates that less than 30 members of staff will be affected throughout its operations, including the closure of branches,” it added. “This follows recent decisions taken by the Board of Directors to rationalise the bank’s branch network.....

“These are extremely difficult decisions to make primarily because they hold implications for continued employment of members of our team, and impact many areas of the bank. However, these decisions are based on careful assessment of our operations and the corporate objective of securing enhanced efficiencies. We wish to emphasise that all decisions were taken with the greatest level of diligence, care and sensitivity.”

Many observers have long called for BOB to cut costs by reducing its staff and branch numbers, especially following a near five-year trend of consistent, heavy losses that virtually wiped out shareholder value and resulted in three taxpayer (Government) funded bail-outs costing over $300 million.

The downsizing confirmation comes in a week when the BISX-listed institution revealed it has generated its first quarterly profit since end-December 2012, with $838,261 in total comprehensive income for the three months to end-September 2017.

A 63.7 per cent year-over-year reduction in loan loss provisions, from $4.387 million to $1.59 million, was largely responsible for BOB’s first quarter performance, which indicated that the latest $162 million ‘bail-out’ and toxic loan transfer to Bahamas Resolve may already be paying off.