AMBL managing director: Company’s success due to Sabga’s vision

AMBL’s managing director (MD), Gregory N Hill, credited the bank’s growth and success over the last 40 years to the vision of its late chairman and chairman emeritus of the ANSA McAL Group of Companies (ANSA McAl), Dr Anthony N Sabga.

“He saw the need for capital mobilisation to be more accessible in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean. In the early days of development in our country, much of the merchant banking activity came out of metropolitan markets; New York and London for large scale projects, such as the Point Lisas Energy Sector Projects which would have been funded largely out of London, NY and Germany, as the case may be. Dr Sabga had a vision that Ansa Merchant Bank would stand out and play a greater role in society, in business and work amongst the commercial banks in providing capital to aid the further development of the country,” Hill told Business Day.

A detailed history of this Hill said can be found in Chapter 7 of the 2006 publication, The History of the ANSA McAL Group of Companies – 125 Years of Business in the Caribbean.

In the book, one learns that it was in the 1960s that Dr Sabga first saw the benefits of building a merchant bank.

“Having been in consumer finance with Standard, I knew the profit margin on the finance was greater than the return on the merchandise - that is, you made more profit financing the item than you made on the item itself,” Sabga wrote.

By the time he stepped down as Group chairman in 2000 and was succeeded by his son A Norman Sabga, the banking ambitions of the then 77-year-old businessman had evolved.

“I was looking for an opportunity to get into making large deals in areas other than material assets and indeed, transactions where the asset traded was capital itself,” Dr Sabga revealed in the book. Hill noted that in the last few years the bank executed over $20 billion in transactions locally and regionally in multiple currencies and this was now aligned with the original vision of his late chairman.

Dr Sabga also took pride in his legendary insurance company, Tatil, “where people, are people”. Tatil and Tatil Life, subsidiaries of the bank, were also his pride and joy. He played close attention to the minute details of the insurance businesses and always challenged the leaders Musa and Ron to grow the business and provide great customer service, for which the companies became known.

Reflecting on his decade long working relationship with the late Dr Sabga, who died last Wednesday at the age of 94, Hill said, “Dr Sabga used to always tell me, ‘Greg, we are hungry for business but we are not starving.’ What he meant by that was that we are prepared to do good transactions, transactions that made sense for the country, for the businesses that partner with us and for our co-investors and stakeholders. So, we’re not keen on doing any transaction or taking on any risk just for the sake of doing a deal.” Hill shared the same view and together the bank and its investment banking business flourished. The same principle was applied to the Asset Finance and Investment Services business lines and the quality of these portfolios have stood the test of time.

Seated in his office at AMBL’s head office, Maraval Road, Port-of- Spain, Hill recalled how Dr Sabga’s other core principles of doing business has shaped the bank’s modus operandi.

“Maintaining good relationships was important for Dr Sabga; relationships with customers, investors and other stakeholders. He always made sure that we fulfilled the obligations that we accepted and he would do whatever it took to stand behind the reputation of the bank. So, anything the bank undertook to do, he made sure we collectively did it to the best of our ability; that’s another principle of his - the principle of execution.” Hills said Dr Sabga had a keen interest in seeing things to perfect completion. He was also very passionate about his Asset Finance business and always challenged the team to be more creative and execute new and innovative campaigns. He was an expert on consumer finance in every way and the team learned a lot under his guidance.

Referring to Dr Sabga’s “very good relationship” with the commercial banks and other financial institutions in TT, Hill said the AMBL management was always encouraged to make sure they had similar good relationships across the market.

“Make sure we collaborate with them, make sure we extend our support on transactions that they do and make sure we offer them and get support on transactions that we do. I personally shared that philosophy. Dr Sabga always wanted to maintain his relationships with the banks and he saw that we could provide a niche activity to support the investing and banking sector.”

“From my perspective,” Hill continued, “this coincides with my philosophy of sharing the rewards and risks associated with large transactions or projects and extended to interbank funding or co-investing. That’s why AMBL prefers to encourage syndicated transactions where we bring in (other local banks) some of the investment houses, the insurance companies, and investors like pension plans and mutual funds. We all share in the opportunity. The days of one bank putting all the risk on its balance sheet are gone, due to the risk inherent in getting large impairments from one large transaction. This same approach is used where we are happy to offer Asset Finance products to some clients, while they maintain their core commercial banking arrangements. We have been a natural partner to the commercial banks in filling a void. This division is aptly run by his grand-daughter Mrs. Galy for several years, with a portfolio now of over $1 billion.”

Hill also spoke about how Dr Sabga motivated managers by listening to them, discussing ideas with them and selecting the best ones to pursue, and by encouraging them to make their own decisions too and stand by them. He said Dr Sabga was always there to provide support you. However, he didn’t appreciate indecision or procrastination. He was always on a mission.

Dr Sabga was also very family oriented and encouraged family life in many ways. “He was a father, grandfather and great grandfather to a very committed and close family that looked up to him in every way. He used to tell me I am nothing without a family, so make time for same.”

“I had a very close and personal relationship with Dr Sabga. Over the ten years we worked together, he was a lot more than my chairman. He was a leader, a coach, a mentor. He filled many roles. He was a father figure for the bank and he fulfilled that role for not just the bank, not just for me personally but for many other people that he interacted with locally and regionally. Up until earlier this year, Dr Sabga was in the office five days a week.

“I would meet with him regularly and we would be in contact almost every day,” Hill added. “The conversations would range from the performance of the bank to strategic growth objectives to customer opportunities. He had plans for the next year five years, the next ten years and so on. The CFC acquisition in Barbados and now the intricate integration plan was a perfect example of a typical discussion and challenge he would lay out to the bank. We would also speak about staff quite a bit. He was always very particular about hiring the right people; he had a unique ability to spot talent and hiring the right people was always very important to him. He was really a clear decision-maker and he would always support you in your decisions. He encouraged you to make decisions and he gave you the support and latitude to do so. Dr Sabga managed with charisma and motivation.”

Asked to sum up his mentor’s legacy, Hill smiled as he said, “Dr Sabga has a legacy of doing transactions and making good deals, so his spirit still lives on in the bank and in ANSA McAl in general. He was a true statesman and patriot and we all could learn from his iconic legacy.”

AMBL celebrated its 40th anniversary on March 21. Its subsidiaries are Tatil, Tatil Life, Consolidate Finance Barbados and Brydens Insurance Barbados.