Pensions expert Allan Lewis, who was previously a senior vice-president at Victoria Mutual for 10 years, is now managing director at JN Fund Managers, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS). He took over the post on October 3, 2016.

On Thursday, January 26, 2017, the company announced that Lewis was expanding JNFM’s suite of investment and credit products to include a range of mutual funds by the end of the financial year.

Allan Lewis has had a career in financial services and strategic planning, spanning more than two decades, with experience in the life insurance, pension and securities industries.

As a senior vice-president at Victoria Mutual, he headed the group’s strategic planning process and project management office, and had oversight for the organisation’s four subsidiaries. He was also a former managing director of Prime Asset Management.

Created in 2000, JNFM closed the 2015-16 financial year with a pre-tax profit of $262.5 million, with $26.6 billion in funds under management.

According to Lewis, the rollout of mutual funds at JNFM will allow customers to invest in local financial markets from money markets to stock markets, as well as global markets.

The move, he said, takes advantage of the expertise developed by JNFM’s licensed securities dealers and investment managers in the subsidiary which was created in 2000.

JNFM is also planning to offer new services to its corporate clients.

“We will expand our investment banking services to corporate clients and help them raise capital and expand,” Lewis said, noting, “We see a greater need for corporations to raise capital, whether equity or debt, to meet those expansion needs.”

The company indicated it has introduced a new Findur investment platform which is expected to enhance asset management.

Lewis holds an MBA in Acturarial Science from Temple University in Philidelphia in the United States.

STOKES IS PRESIDENT OF SCOTIA JAMAICA LIFE

Effective today, Dr Adrian Stokes has been appointed to the position of president, Scotia Jamaica Life Insurance Company Ltd.

Stokes started working at Scotiabank in 2010, where he worked as investment vice-president — strategic planning, projects and products development at the firm’s wealth managment arm, before moving up to the position of group strategist in 2012.

Prior to Scotia, Stokes worked at Jamaica Money Market Brokers and had many years of experience trading a variety of assets on the international capital markets, with extensive knowledge in the structured products market.

Stokes holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and an MSc. in Economics from The University of the West Indies.

BANKS GOES TO TRUST

BANKS GOES TO TRUST

After serving a probationary period, Pan-Jamaican Investment Trust Ltd (PJAM) has confirmed Joanna Banks to the position of vice-president for business development and strategy with effect from earlier last month.

Banks previously worked in investment management for ExxonMobil, where she started in 2013, according to her LinkedIn profile. Prior to that she worked at Pan Caribbean Financial Service from 2006 to 2011, leaving in the role of manager of corporate financing and derivative products.

From 2011 to 2013 Banks was working on her MBA in accounting, analytic finance and operations managment from the Booth School of business at the University of Chicago in the United States. She also holds a BSc in systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.