Who Owns CIBC Caribbean?

The bank formed in 2002 as FirstCaribbean International Bank through the merger of the Caribbean operations of two colonial-era banking giants: Barclays Bank and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Both parents had operated in the region for generations; combining their branches created the anglophone Caribbean's largest indigenous bank overnight, headquartered in Barbados.

CIBC bought Barclays out in December 2006, paying about US$989 million for Barclays' majority stake and then completing a mandatory offer for remaining shares, ending with roughly 91.5 percent ownership. The bank was renamed CIBC FirstCaribbean in 2011 to align with the parent brand, then simplified to CIBC Caribbean in January 2024.

Through the 2010s the bank built out digital banking while consolidating its physical footprint to its strongest markets: Barbados, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands generate the majority of revenue across a presence in 10 countries.

CIBC has tried to exit three times. A 2018 plan to list the unit on US exchanges was shelved; a 2019 agreement to sell to GNB Financial Group, backed by Colombian banker Jaime Gilinski, failed to win regulatory approval in 2021; and the May 2026 Butterfield deal, a roughly US$1.6 to 1.8 billion cash-and-stock transaction, is now moving toward a 2027 close.