ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, MAY 21- The Grenada Development Bank (GDB) has swung from a $1.2 million operating surplus to a $1.4 million operating deficit in a single fiscal year, according to data published in the 2024 Annual Financial Statement of the Grenada Authority for the Regulation of Financial Institutions (GARFIN) — the statutory body responsible for supervising the 61-year-old state-owned institution.

GARFIN’s report reveals that as of December 31, 2024, the GDB held total assets of $111.9 million, with a loan portfolio of $96.1 million and a net operating deficit of $1.4 million. Non-performing loans stood at 7.3%, more than double the 3% recorded the previous year. The figures represent a $2.6 million reduction in total assets and a $3.3 million contraction in the loan portfolio — and end a sixteen-year consecutive run of operating profits.

The collapse in business performance coincides with the tenure of General Manager Royston Cumberbatch, who was hand-picked for the position by Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell in September 2023.

Sources familiar with Bank operations claim Cumberbatch has bypassed established governance structures, including the Line Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, to submit a Cabinet proposal directly, resulting in higher interest rates on Small Business Development Fund loans and imposing a financial burden on the micro and small enterprises the fund was designed to support.

Governance concerns extend to the Bank’s Board of Directors. The GDB’s nine-member board has been operating significantly below its required quorum, with the Bank’s own website listing only five directors, plus the General Manager. Sources allege that resignations were deliberately withheld from the Minister of Finance.

The management crisis has also taken a human toll. More than one-third of GDB staff have resigned since Cumberbatch’s arrival, with the Credit and Project Management departments among the hardest hit.

Adding to the concerns, sources allege that in 2025, Cumberbatch approved a $2 million loan to a borrower with a documented history of repeated default — including an active default on a loan from another statutory body — raising serious questions about due diligence and credit underwriting standards.

Compounding all of this: no annual financial reports covering Cumberbatch’s tenure have been made publicly available, either online or in the Library of Parliament, where the most recent report on file covers fiscal year 2022.