SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The economic "promise" of the NWT has secured its capital city as the location for the eighth full-service branch of the aboriginal-owned First Nations Bank of Canada.
First Nations Bank of Canada chairman and CEO Keith Martell in Yellowknife April 8 to announce the aboriginal-owned chartered bank's expansion to the NWT. - Thandiwe Vela/NNSL photo
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First Nations bank chairman and CEO Keith Martell made the announcement on April 11 in Yellowknife, where the chartered national bank's annual shareholders meeting was held for the first time north of 60.
"First of all, our bank focuses on aboriginal business, government and individuals. That's our main focus. And so when we expand into different regions in the country we look for a region that has economic promise and significant aboriginal influence. And that's definitely a description of the territory," said Martell.
Headquartered in Saskatoon, the bank also has branches in Iqaluit, Meadow Lake, Sask., Winnipeg, Chisasibi, Que., Walpole Island, Ont., and Whitehorse, and typically expands into regions where it also has a significant shareholder.
In the NWT, the Gwich'in Settlement Corp. holds a little more than seven per cent interest in the bank.
The appointment of Fred Koe, chief operating officer of the Gwich'in Tribal Council, to the bank's board of directors was made on the same day the bank announced its plans to establish the NWT branch.
"We're actually quite thrilled to have Fred come on board as a director," said Martell. "Our directors need a broad range of skills and financial expertise and we've got banking expertise on our board and people that have experience with First Nations and aboriginal organizations across Canada. Fred brings to our board fairly significant experience in the North including Nunavut and NWT, he brings government experience, significant credibility with First Nations, and he's got a finance background, so we're quite excited to have Fred on board."
Koe, a certified management accountant who worked for the GNWT for 30 years, including a decade at the deputy minister level, said the council, which aims to promote a self-sufficient and independent Gwich'in, and the bank, are "a good mix.
"The First Nations bank is basically owned by aboriginal nations and in their expansion plans they're looking to service aboriginal communities, especially smaller communities," Koe said.
"The intention somewhere down the line is hopefully we could get a branch in the Gwich'in territory and also have smaller branches in each community."
In addition to providing banking services for individuals, businesses and governments, the establishment of the bank -- which offers lending services ranging from account overdraft, personal loans and mortgages to typically $5 to $10 million commercial loans -- will open up capital for investment in the region, said Martell.
"We have a fairly balanced book and by that I mean all of our deposits pretty much we invest back in loans in the regions where we do business. So we bring to the table not only the capital of the owners of the bank but we also deploy much of the deposits we take as a bank back into the same economy as lending," he said.
"So we're not the biggest bank in Canada but in a lot of our other markets we're doing loans to opportunities that other banks aren't doing. And whereas other banks will go into a community and often take deposits and those go south or to other markets, we lend back into the markets we operate in."
Martell estimates about 90 per cent of First Nations bank business is with aboriginal organizations or individuals.
About 80 per cent of its shares are owned by aboriginal groups across the country, with the remaining 20 per cent owned by TD Canada Trust.
A new share offering, partly aimed at growing NWT First Nations bank shareholders, is currently underway. The process is expected to be closed by the summer.
The bank's first NWT branch is targeted to open by late this coming autumn near downtown Yellowknife.
