Re­pub­lic Bank opened an agency of its Cou­va branch yes­ter­day at the At­lantic Plaza, Point Lisas.Ac­cord­ing to Der­win How­ell, ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor of Re­pub­lic Bank, the bank had fold­ed op­er­a­tions at At­lantic Plaza in 2002 af­ter ini­tial­ly open­ing in 1999 as it was then un­prof­itable to run.

How­ell told the Guardian that busi­ness had been pick­ing up in the Cou­va/Point Lisas area and en­vi­rons and the agency would cater to work­ers on the Point Lisas In­dus­tri­al Es­tate and per­sons wish­ing to do bank­ing south of the Cou­va branch. How­ell said this would make it eas­i­er for a lot of per­sons to do bank­ing rather than hav­ing to ven­ture in­to Cou­va.

He said some staff from the Cou­va branch would be re­lo­cat­ed to At­lantic Plaza, which would al­so be man­aged by Gabrielle Din­day­al, the Cou­va branch sales man­ag­er. How­ell said Re­pub­lic has 35 per cent of the mar­ket share and made $1 bil­lion in prof­it last year. (SHAS­TRI BOODAN)