CIBC-Barclays: Should Their Caribbean Operations Be Merged‪?‬

At the end of 2001, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Barclays Bank PLC were in advanced negotiations regarding the potential merger of their respective retail, corporate and offshore banking operations in the Caribbean. Some members of each board wondered whether this was the best direction to take. Would the combined company be able to deliver superior returns? Would it be possible to integrate, within budget, companies that had competed with each other in the region for decades? Would either firm be better off divesting regional operations instead? Should the two firms just continue to go-it-alone with emphasis on continual improvement? A decision needed to be made within the coming week. This case may be taught on a stand alone basis or in combination with any of the six additional Cross-Enterprise cases that deal with the various functional issues associated with the actual merger: Accounting and Finance - CIBC-Barclays: Accounting for Their Merger, product 9B04B022, Information Systems - Information Systems at FirstCaribbean: Choosing a Standard Operating Environment, product 9B04E032, Marketing and Branding - FirstCaribbean International Bank: The Marketing and Branding Challenges of a Start-up, product 9B05A012, Human Resources - Harmonization of Compensation and Benefits for FirstCaribbean International Bank, product 9B04C053, Finance - FirstCaribbean Merger: The Proposed Merger, product 9B06N004, and technical note - Note on Banking in the Caribbean, product 9B05M015.