Globe Trust & Investment Company Limited

—

What it is

GTICL began operating in April 1991 and was licensed in 1999 to conduct depository financial business with authority to engage in trust business. After its initial period of operation, it recorded profits from December 31, 1992 until December 31, 1999.

The Guyana Stock Exchange started trading with 12 companies on June 30, 2003; by its ninth session in August that same year it had added two more, including the “now defunct Globe Trust and Investment Company Limited.” In other words, GTICL joined the exchange already collapsed — a legal placeholder, not an operating business.

Who owns it

Globe Trust director Professor Clive Thomas — a distinguished Guyanese economist, intellectual, trade unionist, and politician — was among the known board members at the time of seizure. More than 5,000 investors had their life savings at the institution when the Bank of Guyana stepped in in 2001.

The identities of founding shareholders and the precise ownership split are not disclosed in available sources; the liquidation process transferred effective control to the state. On October 18, 2008, the court ordered the liquidation of Globe Trust, following which Mr. Nizam Ali was appointed as the Liquidator by the Bank of Guyana.

Who runs it

There is no active management. Distribution of funds to depositors and trustors was made by the Liquidator in accordance with section 55 of the Financial Institutions Act 1995.

Unclaimed funds relating to depositors, education trust, other trust, and property management are held and paid at the Bank of Guyana.

No serving CEO, CFO, or board chair exists; the GSE listing page shows “No current updates” and the last financial data entry dates to 2018. The names of the original founders are not disclosed in available sources.

The money, in plain words

In 2001, when the regulator stepped in, Globe Trust’s finances were in tatters — investigations uncovered several cases of unsecured loans and non-payments. Out of almost G$800 million (US$4 mn) in loans outstanding in 2001, just over G$100 million (US$481 k) would have been recovered — meaning roughly 87% of the loan book was lost, a catastrophic non-recovery rate by any standard.

The GSE’s own data — the only verifiable financial figure still attached to the ticker — shows a per-share earnings figure of negative G$1,300.88 (~US$−6.26 at today’s rate), with zero dividends and a zero price. The liquidator described the outlook for large depositors as “dismal.” There is no revenue, no margin, no return on equity, and no equity to measure.

What it is doing now

The unclaimed funds have been transferred to the Bank of Guyana, where distribution has continued with effect from May 2011. One depositor who waited 11 years found that a saving of G$100,000 (US$481)had translated into a payout of just G$3,666 (US$18)— a brutal illustration of how little was left once expenses, taxes, and priority creditors were paid first.

The GSE ticker GTI still appears on the official securities list and the exchange’s own trading screens, but no shares have traded and no company news has been filed. It is, in effect, an administrative remnant — a listed shell with no assets, no operations, and no path back to solvency.

What to watch

• Formal delisting: The GSE has already removed Banks DIH in October 2024 at that company’s own request. Whether GTI is ever formally struck from the list — or simply persists indefinitely as a cautionary data point — is the only live question attached to this ticker.
• Unclaimed funds: The Bank of Guyana continues to hold residual unclaimed funds. Any depositor or trustor with a surviving claim should contact the Bank of Guyana’s Banking Division directly.
• Regulatory precedent: Globe Trust ran profitably for eight years, then non-performing loans began to take effect in 2000. As Guyana’s oil boom drives rapid credit growth, the GTICL case remains the country’s clearest lesson in what happens when loan books are not policed and a regulator moves too slowly.

—

This is news, not investment advice.