**Cheryl Major-Bazard
Nominee: Professional Excellence Award**
Mrs. Major-Bazard is a member of the Utter Bars of England and Wales, and of The Bahamas where she has practised law in the areas of criminal and civil litigation as well as family matters at the private Bar. She has held the positions of Counsel at the Attorney General’s Office and that of a Stipendiary and Circuit Magistrate before entering the financial services sector.
During most of 2002, Mrs. Major-Bazard served as Associate Director of Compliance for CIBC Bahamas, which included twelve branches in The Bahamas and one in the Turks & Caicos Islands. She was also the Money Laundering Reporting Officer for CIBC Bahamas Ltd. and was also responsible for the business risk review program, which encompassed a multi-skilled team of credit, operations and compliance professionals conducting field reviews and assessments of branches and other business units.
Mrs. Major-Bazard has served as Corporate Secretary for CIBC Bahamas Ltd., one of the largest public companies in The Bahamas, while also providing legal advice to The Bahamas-based operations.
In 2002, when the merger of CIBC West Indies Holdings Limited, (the parent of CIBC Bahamas Ltd.) and the Caribbean operations of Barclays Bank was completed, Mrs. Major-Bazard was promoted to Director of Compliance Professionals for the FirstCaribbean International Bank Group. She now is responsible for the compliance and anti money laundering matters in fifteen (15) jurisdictions in the region and has seven full time professionals and eight part-time professionals reporting to her, situated throughout The Bahamas, the Caribbean and Belize. Although her responsibilities are regional in nature, she continues to reside in The Bahamas.
Mr. Terry Hilts, Retail Director of the FirstCaribbean Group in Nassau points out, *”Cheryl’s promotion into one of the most unique and demanding compliance roles in this region, is in recognition of her accomplishments at CIBC (Bahamas) Ltd. She has been pivotal in developing a strong internal control, compliance and money laundering prevention culture and has contributed in helping to make the complex combination possible. Senior management at FirstCaribbean are confident that she will succeed in building an effective compliance culture in FirstCaribbean.”*
A founding member of BACO, Mrs. Bazard served as the Association’s first President and continues to serve the Association in the current capacity of Executive Vice President. She also assists in all training programmes and workshops sponsored by BACO, and is considered to be one of the driving forces behind many initiatives which have positioned BACO as a very vital and vibrant arm of the financial services industry.
BFSB will announce the winners of its 2003 Awards at its Annual Banquet scheduled for October 4, Radisson Cable Beach Resort.