It’s fiscal policy season! On the heels of the recent signing of the country’s first FX code of conduct, we are told to prepare for more policies, this time a retail code, which also seeks to encourage principles of best practices and ethical behaviour in the FX market at a lower level.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, after the symbolic signing of the Global FX code of conduct at the Bank of Jamaica in downtown Kingston on Monday, Peter Higgins, assistant general manager for foreign exchange at National Commercial Bank (NCB) disclosed that the retail code is only left to be formally signed by all stakeholders.

“We are looking to put an addendum to the global code which is a retail code — this will govern the walk in customers and non-large corporations” he shared. The retail code is said to be past draft phase and is actually now in the process of being prepared for signing. Some dealers are said to have also gone ahead in signing on to this new retail code.

In furtherance to this latest policy move, Higgins also shared that one of the benefits of the country moving to accept the global code was to certify individuals in the dealing house so that they can become members of the Association Cambiste Internationale Financial Market Association (ACIFMA). This will result in the country becoming more equipped with trained personnel possessing the knowledge and skills needed to develop our own local body.

“The next step for us is setting up our own ACIFMA in Jamaica, so that when changes are happening globally we will become an active participant in order to share our views in terms of areas that needs to be developed and where we are going with any development,” he noted.

The NCB top executive who was very instrumental in brokering the deal through liaison roles, also commented on how proud he is of where the country is going fiscally. He points out that accepting the global FX code will attract more people to do business with Jamaica.

“It will make us look a lot more open and transparent, people will have the confidence that they can come into Jamaica because we now have these fairly ethical market practices, which is the order of the day,” he added.

With Jamaica now riding significant waves in the financial arena, we are moving in directions that require us to keep up with the changing times and also to be a part of practices that are first world in nature. Higgins in acknowledging that the world has changed also highlighted that currently, more transactions are being done electronically.

“Ten years ago one could not have found a wide acceptance of electronic transactions, but now we have different types of programs developed. Globally and locally, we have to ensure that we’re doing it at best efforts, making sure we are fair to ourselves and customers,” he pointed out.

Higgins then highlighted that we were doing it before but there are some transactions that never existed five years ago. Hence these codes are aimed at paving the way for setting standards to new and upcoming transactions.