 In a strange twist of fate, all three institutions ran into severe financial difficulties to varying degrees between 1986 and 1992 resulting in a Government takeover of all three entities.In what was considered a bold, even absurd move, in 1993 the Government of Trinidad and Tobago merged all three banks into one, and First Citizens Bank was born.Given the history of the previous three entities, not many people gave First Citizens Bank much hope of survival and felt that it was only a matter of time before the institution folded.