Page 2 - Quest magazine 11

Editoral
In celebration of our culture
The culture of a place is the story
of its people. Like Scheherazade
weaving her tale over One Thou-
sand and One Nights, our story at ing, ever expanding family for almost two
Republic Bank has been told for
the last 185 years and will be told for many,
many more.
Our story is a great one. Our Republic Bank
history is rich, full of twists and bends, ups Over time, our experiences – both good and
and downs. It is a story of togetherness, of
2 Quest 11 I July/Aug 2017
different peoples and places and even busi-
nesses being welcomed by our ever embrac-
centuries.
It is a story of endurance, of hard times suc-
cessfully survived, of life changing opportu-
nities mined out of intimidating challenges.
bad – have become intertwined, coming to-
gether to form the very fabric of our exis-
tence, not just here in the workplace but in
ways that touch all aspects of our lives.
The risk with stories, however, and with
deep, rich histories such as ours, is that with als and numerous economic recessions.
the passage of time, the details fade. How
many of us remember when we got our first
Blue Machine in 1985? Suddenly, our cus-
tomers had access to their cash 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week. Not only did it change
the size of the crowds in our banking halls,
but it changed the very face of shopping as
well. Cash was readily available for us to
withdraw and anything that caught our eye
could be immediately purchased – as long
as it didn’t cost more than $500!
We have had many significant firsts through-
out our history as well. We introduced the
first credit card to the country back in
1990, helping to bring about the end of
the era of the personal cheque – and
the plethora of bounced cheques
that had plagued businesses for
years.
Today, almost 2/3 of our
staff is female. But the way
for this development was
paved by women such
as Kamala Singh, our
first female General
Manager of IT, Su-
san Dore, our first
General Manager of
Human Resources,
and Doris Wong, our
first female General Manager, Credit. Join-
ing these ranks of phenomenal firsts was
Jacqueline Quamina, who was the General
Manger of our first Legal Department and,
later, our first female Executive Director.
As with many other families, ours has
moved beyond the shores of this country,
spreading its roots throughout the Caribbe-
an and across the Atlantic Ocean, making
us the first local bank to acquire a majority
shareholding in a bank on the African conti-
nent, HFC Bank, Ghana.
We have survived many political upheav-
Throughout it all we have stood side by side
in solidarity with our customers and with
each other. Who knows where we will end
up in the next 185 years ahead of us? Our
vision for our customers is firmly set in cy-
berspace. Initiatives such as the automation
of internal processes and the transformation
to cashless payments are well under way.
As we continue to explore the new terrains
online, we must continuously balance this
digital world with the real one and make
sure to never lose our humanity, or indeed
our humility.
While we may not know with certainty what
our future holds, there is one thing we do
know for certain. Our caring for our custom-
ers and for each other will continue to guide
us. Our belief in our people will continue to
strengthen us. And, our pride in our past is
what will help shape our future. We have
stood the test of time, we have proven our
abilities and we shall continue to
grow from strength to strength.
Let us continue to take good care
of each other!