Business news. THE Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) will be launching its online trading platform in April 2015 with the aim of increasing its trading volume across the diaspora.
CENUK Director and JSE liaison Denis St Bernard
The platform will allow individual investors to buy and sell securities such as stocks, options, bonds and mutual funds, as well as manage and review portfolio transactions on the JSE. Currently, online trading is a function limited to stockbrokers as a result of various restrictions and highly priced transaction fees.
‘This is a very dynamic and positive initiative, which will be setting the tone to create a catalyst for foreign direct investment into Jamaica and the Caribbean’ sighted Denis St.Benrard the Diaspora Liaison Officer for the JSE.
‘We will be having a series of sensitisation / awareness meetings, seminars, workshops and so on for interested persons in the UK Caribbean Diaspora, along with mainstream investors looking for healthy returns on their investments’ said St. Bernard.
JSE MD Mrs. Street – Forrest said that she expects that we will see an increase in the number and types of investors accessing the market and the participants.
“This initiative is based on investors’ requests, and I expect that we will see an increase in the number and types of investors accessing the market and the participants” said JSE General Manager Marlene Street-Forrest.
Street-Forrest. Photo courtesy jamaica-gleaner.com
With the electronic trading platform, investors and potential investors will have easier access to investment trading and will be required to pay only the two per cent charged by brokers. Ultimately, the new development will allow investors to monitor their activities without the hassle of going to brokers’ offices.
However, Street-Forrest added that each transaction must be settled by a broker and will be executed only on business days between the hours of 9:30 am and 1:00 pm.
“You are able to request and release funds from your account with your broker, but you must develop a relationship with your broker to ensure that the process is seamless” said Mrs Street-Forrest..
Any trading that occurs online is subject to the current market rules, including those for clearing and settlement of trades. When an order is placed, it will be routed to the online trading server, which will pre-validate the order, which is then routed to the respective broker for further validation.
The broker system will then return the results of the validation to the online trading server, which will submit the order to the trading platform and the investor will be notified when the order is queued.
“Once the order is executed, you will be notified,” she added.
HISTORICAL DIASPORA MOU
Street-Forrest and St Bernard sign MOU in 2011. Photo courtesy http://jamaica-gleaner.com/
Marlene Street-Forrest and Denis St Bernard signing the MOU on Friday at the Diaspora Convention at Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort in Ocho Rios, St Ann. – contributed.
A historical signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and the United Kingdom-based Caribbean Enterprise Network (CEN-UK) is expected to see millions of dollars in investment flowing into the exchange from the Jamaican diaspora in the United Kingdom.
General manager of the JSE, Marlene Street-Forrest and CEN-UK founding member, and Denis St Bernard signed the document on Friday, the final day of the Jamaican Diaspora Convention, held at the Sunset Jamaica Grande, Ocho Rios, St Ann in June, 2011.
The agreement represents the first solid achievement since the diaspora movement began around eight years ago and sees both parties agreeing to work at staging joint activities to promote growth of Jamaica-affiliated companies in the UK and encouraging them to do business with Jamaica. For details of the progress made since the signing of the MOU click CENUK OUTCOMES FROM DIASPORA WEEK FINAL DOC (1).
Also view video below of a special function at the Jamaican High Commission recognising the vision of CENUK.
RELEASE FROM CENUK
