JMMB Group, which provides banking and financial services in three Caribbean countries, is expanding its branch network in various markets, having reported its best profit on record.
It comes amid a general restructuring of the group, which is based in Jamaica, to conform to the new regulations surrounding financial holding companies.
The group earned $12 billion for the year ending March 2022, up from $7.7 billion a year earlier, buoyed by growth in revenue and improved dividend income.
All territories added profit to the group which operates in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and the Dominican Republic.
“We will be expanding our brick and mortar [locations], but we will be doing it smartly,” said JMMB Group Chief Operating Officer Patricia Sutherland at the investor briefing hosted by the Jamaican company on Thursday. “In Jamaica, we are currently in the process of erecting a branch in Liguanea. In the Dominican Republic, we are also expanding. And in Trinidad, we are expanding and putting in another branch.”
JMMB Group operates 22 branches with 11 in Jamaica, 10 in Trinidad, and two in the Dominican Republic, the group told the Financial Gleaner. The count excludes its corporate and SME Resource Centre locations.
“We are transitioning from the COVID-19 environment,” said Group CEO Keith Duncan in his remarks.
The company is moving ahead with plans to reinvest in its operations, but notes that the business community, having learned to live with the pandemic, now must deal with the impacts of the tensions in eastern Europe, and other shocks. The war launched by Russia against the Ukraine has not only resulted in death, but also global food and commodity price hikes.
“What we are seeing now is the geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine. We are seeing supply chain disruptions, also the inflation outlook is fairly significant,” said Duncan.
He expects inflation to probably peak in the middle of the year, and that the Bank of Jamaica would relax its tightening of monetary policy as a result, but not quickly. High interest rates will be a feature “over the next year or so,” he said.
General Manager of JMMB Bank Moya Leiba-Barnes said the bank would start inching up its loan rates.
“JMMB Bank will in fact be increasing the interest rate charged on our variable interest rate loans and this will not be more than 1.5 per cent. It will become effective August 1, 2022, because we will be giving our clients notice, a minimum of at least 45 days,” said Leiba-Barnes. “We recognize that these are challenging times,” she added.
Leiba-Barnes said clients should speak directly to their branch representative if they have problems servicing their loans.
During this financial year, JMMB Group plans to acquire two entities, both of which require regulatory approval for the deals to close, said Chief Strategy Officer Claudine Tracey.
“The acquisition process has several stages. The regulatory process takes time. But these two transactions are in the pipeline,” Tracey said.
The group is also not ruling out expanding to other countries that have a heavy presence of Caribbean nationals, such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
“Our Caribbean diversification has worked well for us. JMMB will go wherever it is strategic for us. If it takes us to UK then we are open a location to add value,” she said.
Meanwhile, under the groups’ ongoing restructuring as required by the Banking Services Act of 2014, a new financial holding company was created and incorporated as JMMB Financial Holdings Limited (JMMBFHL) on December 24, 2021.
“All regulated entities in the group will be transferred to JMMBFHL. During the prior year, Jamaica Money Market Brokers Limited transferred ownership of JMMB International Limited to the company. The direct ownership of Sagicor Financial Company Limited was also transferred from the company to JMMB International Limited,” JMMB Group noted in its year-end financial report.
“The transfers were made at book value,” it said.
JMMB Group ended the year with capital to $56.4 billion, which amounts to just over nine per cent of its total assets.
business@gleanerjm.com