State-owned First Citizens has lost six senior officers in the past year, leaving the financial institution in what a whistleblower report describes as a “precarious position.”
The report attributes the situation to the board of directors’ alleged conduct and claims that the resulting vacancies have failed to attract external candidates, while qualified internal employees have not been promoted to fill the gaps.
The allegations are contained in a seven-page whistleblower report submitted to the bank’s board of directors in August 2026 under the institution’s Whistleblower Policy #284.
The Sunday Guardian obtained a copy of the report.
But board chairman Shankar Bidaisee yesterday said the bank hopes to fill the vacancies soon.
According to the document, a protected disclosure submitted to the board in March identified specific governance failures, warned that they were worsening, and recommended six corrective actions. However, the report alleges that no meaningful accountability measures have followed since then.
Five months later, the latest report states that the institution is “materially weaker” than it was in March and that conditions have deteriorated beyond what the earlier disclosure anticipated.
“Three of the group’s most senior officers, including its CEO, have since left,” the report stated.
First Citizens, a publicly traded company that is 60 per cent owned by the State, has seen a string of senior departures over the past year. Chief Risk Officer Gerard Morton resigned in January.
In March, Neela Moonilal-Kissoon, Deputy CEO, Operations and Administration, left, a departure the report linked to “the pattern of targeted whistleblowing submissions the March disclosure documented.”
Donna Miller resigned as Chief Internal Auditor in April. Her position was filled two days later by Julia Maria Daniel, making it the only senior vacancy not left open for an extended period.
Nesha Ramkhalawan, who had been serving as acting Chief Risk Officer, left the company on July 7.
Shortly thereafter, the Chief Financial Officer proceeded on early retirement, which the report described as “functionally equivalent to a resignation.”
On July 31, group CEO Jason Julien resigned. His resignation takes effect on August 31, 2026.
While Julien publicly stated that he was not forced out when questioned by Guardian Media on the reason for his departure, the report claims that “that characterisation is not shared inside the institution.”
Julien’s resignation followed the retirement of former CEO Karen Darbasie in October 2025.
The report also highlighted a series of leadership vacancies. It noted that the deputy CEO, Revenue Generation position remained vacant from December 2025 until July 2026, when Sana Ragbir was appointed. The report stated that Ragbir subsequently took and returned from a period of leave.
Her promotion left the position of General Manager, Retail and Commercial Banking vacant, with no successor yet confirmed. The role of head of Retail Banking, one level below the vacant GM position, also remains unfilled, and recruitment has reportedly not been approved.
“Six of the institution’s most senior positions have turned over in twelve months under a single board,” the report stated.
“Only one of those vacancies, the Chief Internal Auditor, was filled without a sustained gap. The remainder, including the Group’s most senior executive office, either remain unresolved or have turned over more than once.”
Failed recruitment exercises
The report claimed recruitment exercises for the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Risk Officer and deputy CEO, Operations and Administration positions have all had to be restarted after failing to attract suitable candidates.
“In each case, qualified internal successors were available and were not promoted into the roles,” the report stated.
“This is not one failed search. It is three simultaneous failed searches across the institution’s most senior control and executive positions, at an institution that has spent five months as the subject of public reporting on its own governance dysfunction.”
The report further alleges that junior staff lacking the necessary seniority, authority and training have been required to fill critical gaps. It also raised concerns about employee treatment, claiming that a performance review overseen by an individual whose work it was intended to independently assess resulted in compensation downgrades for 28 managers.
The report alleged that those managers were offered an appeal process “whose process and consequences were never disclosed to them.” Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo formally presented appointment instruments to the current board, chaired by Bidaisee, in August 2025.
According to the document, the entire board was summoned to appear before the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT) on August 11, 2026, to address regulatory concerns about the attrition of senior management and the board’s handling of the issue.
“A regulator does not summon an entire board over routine turnover,” the report stated.
“It does so only when attrition is high enough to be a concern.”
The report said the prudential regulator had independently concluded that the attrition represented a supervisory concern and required the board to answer for it directly. “The March disclosure had already flagged this as a live risk, stating that the pattern of departures could give rise to a regulatory notification obligation.”
The report also contended that recruitment and retention challenges were linked to how remaining senior managers were treated by board members.
“Multiple senior managers have described a sustained pattern of hostile and disrespectful conduct directed at them in board meetings, including public criticism and second-guessing of decisions that fall within their professional competence and track record,” it stated.
“These are individuals who, collectively, have built and continue to operate a billion-dollar revenue institution. The manner in which they are addressed at board level is not a matter of style, and it is a material input into why external candidates decline these roles and why internal candidates who have watched this conduct firsthand decline to put themselves forward for promotion.”
The report warned that a board unable to retain the confidence of its management team while simultaneously failing to recruit externally was not simply managing a temporary staffing shortage.
“It is producing the condition for its own control environment to continue deteriorating,” it said.
Troubling issues first raised in March
The disclosures build on a previous 10-page whistleblower report submitted in March that outlined concerns about governance practices and the conduct of deputy chairman Dr Sterling Frost.
That earlier disclosure recommended that Frost be recused from matters involving the Human Resources and Remuneration Committee.
According to the latest report, that recommendation had not been substantially implemented as of August 2026.
In March, First Citizens reported profit after tax of $422.9 million, a decline of $22 million compared with the corresponding period in 2025, despite total revenue increasing by $101.8 million.
The report noted that the institution has assets of $50.3 billion and approximately 2,000 employees, making it a systemically important financial holding company.
It also referenced comments by chairman Bidaisee, who attributed the earnings decline to the newly introduced Commercial Asset Levy on licensed commercial banks and a more prudent approach to credit impairment.
The report called for seven issues to be publicly addressed, including details of the August 11 meeting with the Central Bank, remedies for the 28 affected managers, written confirmation of the status of the six corrective actions proposed in March, an explanation for earnings performance compared with a peer institution, and timelines for permanent appointments to the chief risk officer, chief financial officer and both deputy CEO positions.
The report concluded that First Citizens’ current challenges stem from board conduct rather than market conditions.
“The chairman’s own stated explanation for this year’s earnings decline, a more cautious approach to credit impairment, is consistent with an institution operating without settled risk leadership, not a factor separate from it,” it stated.
It further argued that the March disclosure correctly predicted that ongoing board overreach and unresolved conflicts of interest would further destabilise the institution.
“The Central Bank’s decision to summon the board in person reflects the regulator reaching, independently, the same conclusion this record supports,” the report stated.
“The board was asked in March to act. It is now being asked to account, in public, for what it did instead, and for what it intends to do before the pattern described here produces a consequence beyond the institution’s own control.”
Board chairman responds
The Sunday Guardian forwarded a copy of the report to Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo.
However, the minister advised that questions be directed to First Citizens chairman Shankar Bidaisee.
Responding to report and what had been done to address the issues contained in it yesterday, Bidaisee said following Julien’s resignation, the CBTT engaged First Citizens, in keeping with its supervisory processes, regarding the group’s plans to address recent vacancies in key positions.
“First Citizens has provided the CBTT with a comprehensive update on the status of permanent appointments, current vacancies at senior management and officer levels, acting appointments and succession planning,” Bidaisee said.
“The CBTT and First Citizens have also agreed to meet, with a date and time to be confirmed by the CBTT.”
Bidaisee also confirmed that successful candidates have been identified for the positions of Group Chief Risk Officer and Group Chief Internal Auditor following a competitive recruitment process and will be joining the institution shortly.
“The Group has already commenced the process of filling other key vacancies,” he said.
“The board of directors continues to exercise robust oversight of the group’s operations and remains focused on ensuring strong corporate governance, effective risk management, regulatory compliance and sound decision-making aligned with the group’s strategic objectives.”
He said First Citizens remains committed to strengthening its leadership and operational framework and working closely with executive management to ensure the continued sound management and sustainable growth of the group in the interests of shareholders, customers and other stakeholders.
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