Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

Minna Israel will take over at RBTT Jamaica on January 21. - File

Career banker, Minna Israel, who was seen at one time as the natural successor to William Clarke as Scotiabank Jamaica chief, has switched over to a competing bank that itself is in the process of changing owners.

The move, as it turns out, represents a return, eventually, to an organisation with which Israel worked many years ago, Royal Bank, when she was testing her feet in the banking sector.

Israel, who up to recently was heading the Scotiabank operations in The Bahamas, will, as of January 21, switch over to Kingston to take charge of the Jamaican operations of the island's No. 3 bank, RBTT.

Impact on clarke

She replaces Rodney Persaud who is retiring.

It was unclear how the news was impacting Clarke, but indications are it might have hit him hard.

"He has no comment," said BNS head of communications, Joylene Griffiths-Irving, without even referring the request to her boss.

Israel who was seen as Clarke's lieutenant - having risen to the position of executive vice-president and deputy managing director in the Jamaican operation - was deployed two years ago to The Bahamas as head of country operations there.

That move was seen as a test of her mettle and her capacity to run her own operation, while building experience and cementing her qualifications as heir apparent.

In fact, when Israel was leaving for The Bahamas, her comment to the Financial Gleaner then was: "You know, I have to have a very open mind ... I am open to all career opportunities in the BNS International Group."

Immensely qualified

Clarke, who has churned out year after year of record profit for Scotiabank to keep it at pole position as Jamaica's No. 1 bank, referred to her then as immensely qualified and capable.

RBTT Financial CEO Suresh Sookoo had much the same comment Wednesday. "Minna is a welcome addition to the RBTT team and brings with her a wealth of experience and formal training in banking and financial services," he said. She is expected to grow the bank.

Israel, whom the Financial Gleaner was unable to reach for comment on the developments, now appears to see more career promise in Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), a bank she worked with years ago and a rival to Scotiabank.

RBC is in the process of buying the retail operations of RBTT Bank from Trinidad-based RBTT Financial Holdings, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, under a deal valued at US$2.2 billion.

Plans to rebrand

RBC, which is currently operational in The Bahamas, plans to rebrand RBTT under the Royal Bank name, in the process reclaiming markets it once held in Trinidad and Jamaica.

Israel's recruitment would likely be seen as a coup, given her intimacy with the operations of RBTT's biggest rival in the Jamaican market.

The banker has 25 years of experience in the financial services sector, but her banking career started out at the Royal Bank in Jamaica and then in Toronto.

She joined BNS in 1991, rising consistently in the bank to deputy managing director in 2003.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com