Grenada Co-operative Bank Ltd.

—

What it is

Founded in 1932, Grenada Co-operative Bank is the only indigenous commercial bank in Grenada, built from “Penny Bank” roots to serve working-class families who could not meet the opening-deposit requirements of the existing foreign banks.

It operates five branches across the island — including Grand Anse, Sauteurs, Grenville, and Carriacou — and runs the largest domestic ATM network under the CONNEX brand. It is also Grenada’s only licensed broker-dealer on the Eastern Caribbean Securities Market, letting customers buy and sell securities across eight ECCU territories.

Who owns it

The bank describes itself as “proudly owned by Grenadians, serving Grenadians” — it is Grenada’s only indigenous bank. No single private controlling shareholder exists; the share register is widely spread.

As of the 2017 ECSRC registration filing, the two largest disclosed shareholders were the National Insurance Scheme (the state pension body) with 10.7% and the Grenada Ports Authority with 6.1% — no subsequent filing has disclosed a concentration above those levels, and the free float is broad.

At listing in 2017, the total shares outstanding were 7,600,000 — a figure that remains unchanged today. The share price on the ECSE as of late June 2026 stood at XCD 9.25 / US$9.25, giving a market value of roughly XCD 70.3 million / US$70.3 million (our calculation).

Who runs it

The board is chaired by Darryl Brathwaite, an Accredited Director, with Lisa Taylor (LLB, Accredited Director) as Deputy Chair. At the 2017 ECSE listing, Aaron Logie was named as one of the managing directors; by 2024, Larry Lawrence (MBA, Accredited Director) holds the Managing Director role, effectively the chief executive.

The corporate secretary is Tanya K. Lambert.

The nine-member board is composed entirely of Grenadian professionals, consistent with the bank’s purely domestic ownership structure. BDO served as external auditor for nine years; from FY2025 the board replaced them with PKF Accountants & Business Advisers, as required by Grenada’s Banking Act limit on consecutive auditor tenure.

The money, in plain words

Interest income — what borrowers pay the bank on loans and mortgages — surged 34.8%, from XCD 42.6 million (US$43 mn) to XCD 57.5 million (US$58 mn), while net interest income (what is left after paying depositors) rose 26.5% to XCD 39.9 million / US$39.9 million in FY2024. Add in fees, commissions, and investment gains — other operating income jumped 63.8% to XCD 101.1 million / US$101.1 million — and total operating income reached XCD 141.0 million / US$141.0 million (our calculation).

The bank kept about 23 cents of profit from every dollar of that income — a net profit margin of 23.0% (our calculation) — delivering a return on equity of 18% in FY2024, up from 17% in 2023. For every dollar shareholders have invested in the business, the bank earned 18 cents that year.

The efficiency ratio — what fraction of income is consumed by running costs — improved to 60%, meaning 40 cents of every income dollar flows through to the bottom line before taxes. At a share price of XCD 9.25, (US$9)the stock trades at roughly 2.2 times annual earnings (our calculation) — a low multiple that likely reflects the ECSE’s thin trading volume rather than any weakness in the underlying business.

What it is doing now

For FY2025 (year ended 30 September 2025), the bank reported after-tax profits of XCD 42.8 million / US$42.8 million, a 32% jump over FY2024, with the non-performing loan ratio — the share of loans where borrowers have stopped paying — tightening further to 0.75%. That makes eleven consecutive years of profitability, and two successive record-profit years.

The bank was named ECCU Bank of the Year for Customer Service in 2024, an award organised by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. It has also launched a dedicated unit for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, backed by agreements with professional agencies to provide accounting, finance, and marketing support to MSME clients.

What to watch

• Hurricane Beryl aftermath. Despite the efficiency ratio improving to 60%, the bank’s own chairman flagged that Hurricane Beryl caused damage estimated at 16.5% of Grenada’s GDP — an economic shock that could slow loan demand and lift defaults in the near term.
• Ownership transparency. The 2017 filing showed the National Insurance Scheme and the Ports Authority as the only disclosed 5%-plus holders. An updated shareholder register has not been published in available sources; investors should watch for any fresh disclosure of concentrated stakes.
• Liquidity and trading volume. At a price-to-earnings ratio of roughly 2.2× (our calculation), the stock looks strikingly cheap — but the ECSE is a small, lightly traded exchange, and that discount may simply reflect the cost of illiquidity rather than hidden risk.
• Digital transformation. Management has flagged an ongoing investment in digital banking infrastructure; how quickly it converts that spending into operating leverage will determine whether the 60% efficiency ratio improves further.

—

This is news, not investment advice.