RTC News understands from residents in the community that customers affiliated with the First Caribbean Bank were rushing yesterday to close their accounts in relations to rumor that was generated within the public domain.
Since that occurrence, CIBC FIRSTCARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL BANK has released a statement to RTC News that reads:
‘CIBC First Caribbean wishes to inform the public that we are not closing our offices in the Turks & Caicos Islands.”
‘CIBC remains committed to maintaining our presence and operations in the TCI including the full and nonsupport of our clients. We refute rumors that suggest otherwise.’
Just last week, A federal court in California authorised the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to serve a “John Doe” summons seeking information about US taxpayers who may hold offshore accounts in a Barbados-headquartered Caribbean bank.
The Department of Justice has identified the bank as the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB). It said the order was signed by Senior District Judge Thelton E Henderson.
The Department of Justice said the IRS summons seeks records of FCIB’s United States correspondent account at the San Francisco-based bank, Wells Fargo NA and that the summons will allow the IRS to identify US taxpayers who hold or held interests in financial accounts at FCIB and other financial institutions that used FCIB’s Wells Fargo correspondent account.
The Department of Justice said that, based on a petition filed by the government, the court granted the IRS permission to serve what is known as a “John Doe” summons on Wells Fargo.
“The IRS uses ‘John Doe’ summonses to obtain information about possible violations of internal revenue laws by individuals whose identities are unknown,” the statement said.
CIBC First Caribbean is a major Caribbean bank offering a full range of market-leading financial services and Investment Banking. It is the largest, regionally listed bank in the English-and Dutch speaking Caribbean. The bank has over 3,400 staff; 69 branches, 22 banking centres, and seven offices in 17 regional markets.
