Caribbean news. The launch of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) online trading platform aiming to increase trading volumes across the diaspora has already began to peak interest in the build up to the 6th Bi annual Conference to be held from 13th to 18th June in Montego Bay Conference Centre.
Director, Priority International 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. This will also assist brokers in provide another medium through which participants from accessing the market at any time convenient to them.
‘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’ cited Denis St.Bernard the Diaspora Liaison Officer for the JSE.
‘We will be having a series of sensitisation / awareness meetings, Seminars, workshop for interested persons in the UK Caribbean Diaspora, along with mainstream investors looking for healthy returns on their investments, however we need all hands on deck to make this a reality. Firstly we need all our Stock Brokers to participate in the online trading platform and to encourage investors to become proactive in accessing our dynamic and lucrative Diaspora Market. Strategic thinking and focus is what will be required as this now presents an exciting game changer with regards to how they service their clients. Creativity and hard work is what will be required to ensure the success of the platform after launching. This is really a win – win for all.’ said St. Bernard.
According to the JSE General Manager, Mrs. Street Forrest, “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.’
With the electronic trading platform, investors and potential investors will have easier access to investment trading and will be not be required to pay any additional fee than usually is charged if the transaction was effected directly by the 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.
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.
Remittance Market
In October, the World Bank stated that remittances to developing countries were expected to reach US$435 billion in 2014, an increase of five per cent over 2013. The bank estimated that remittances to developing countries will continue climbing in the medium term, reaching an estimated US$454 billion in 2015. The report added that remittance flows to the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region are “likely to bounce back, following a weak 2013” and should rise to US$67 billion in 2015.
In November, net remittances to Jamaica were US$151.4 million, an increase of US$1.9 million or 1.3 per cent relative to the corresponding period of 2013. According to World Bank statistics, remittances in 2013 were significantly higher than foreign direct investment (FDI) to developing countries and were three times larger than official development assistance.
General Manager for VMTS, Michael Howard, stated that “the annual growth of the Jamaican remittance market coupled with the strategic direction of the VMBS Money Transfer business made it a natural fit to work with MoneyGram”.
He added that VMBS plans on extending the services to include the sub-agents of VMTS in the second phase of the new partnership.
“We are seeking to offer customers increased opportunities to transfer money close to home throughout the islands. This is in an effort to better serve our consumers around the world as we seek to be the preferred global network to send and receive funds,” MoneyGram’s regional sales director, Peter Smith.
‘The Caribbean region need to find creative ways to divert part of these remittances into direct productive endeavours in order to create economic development and job creation in the region and investment into companies listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, particularly in the Junior Stock Market will result in growth for the investors and small and medium enterprises’ ended St.Bernard.
RELEASE FROM CENUK – www.cenuk.net Denis St.Bernard – denisstbernard.co.uk/ Email – [email protected]
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