The Board of Directors of Fidelity Bank & Trust International Limited (FBT) and its subsidiary boards announced today that it will no longer offer Western Union, Money Transfer Services at its branches and sub-agent locations as of end of day, Friday, July 17^th, 2015. The decision affects its locations throughout The Bahamas, The Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands.

“We are pleased to have provided Western Union’s services to customers throughout the Caribbean for many years,” said Chairman& CEO, Anwer Sunderji. “Through Western Union, we have established relationships and allowed families and friends to stay connected from almost anywhere in the world. However, economic times and risks have changed, resulting in this decision to close. It is a difficult time for the Money Transmission Business as correspondent banks are increasingly wary of dealing with institutions participating in this segment. The Bank has been subjected to higher bank fees in various jurisdictions to process the receipts of its Money Transfer business. Coupled with declining margins and increasing compliance costs, the Directors deemed it prudent to de-risk and exit this business”.

Fidelity Bank sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused to its customers as a result of this closure.