Dear Claudienne

I bought 9,000 shares of Jamaica Broilers stock when they were issued over 25/30 years ago.

I am in a desperate financial situation and would like to sell them.

I went to my bank, Scotia and was told that I would have to open an investment account with a minimum of half a million dollars. I checked with other investment institutions and was basically told the same thing that is, that I would have to open an investment account with amounts varying between a half a million and one million dollars.

I called the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and told them of my dilemma and they suggested that I try Sagicor.

Sagicor told me that I had to open an account with $5,000 and that I needed to get two references (a JP and a senior police officer) and provide the bank with proof of my sources of income.

I opened the account and when I presented the stock certificate I was told that before they could sell it, they would have to register it on the stock exchange. They said that to register it could take up to six weeks.

Sagicor informed me that my stock certificate was sent to the stock exchange last week Thursday, January 23, 2020.

I need the money urgently so could you please check with the stock exchange and find out if it has been registered. If it has not been registered as yet, could you find out if they can speed up the registration process so that Sagicor can sell it.

Sagicor said that they will get two per cent of the proceeds of the sale of the stock.

A friend in the US has told me that selling stock from an individual account in the US through an investment company is a much simpler process than happens in the stock market here in Jamaica.

He says that in the US he can just log on to his investment account and buy or sell stocks. He said he can go online and do the transaction by clicking whether he wishes to sell or buy. He said that the proceeds of the sale are available for withdrawal from his account after three days.

Please see what can be done to help, as I am in urgent need of the money.

NE

Dear NE

Tell Claudienne contacted the office of the CEO of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday, January 31,2020 . The e-mail the column sent to the CEO contained the following query:

“Seeing that ‘ordinary’ Jamaicans are being encouraged to buy stocks and invest on the stock exchange, could you please clarify if there is public education to make them aware of the procedure if they have an emergency and want to sell the stocks they have acquired.”

On Tuesday, February 4, 2020, the CEO of the JSE responded and please note that the Jamaica Central Securities Depository (JCSD) referred to in the CEO’s e-mail is a subsidiary of the JSE.

The JSE e-mail stated :

“We thank you for the email below and wish to advise the following:

In order to fully answer the question it is imperative for us to look at the process for depositing a certificate. The process is as follows:

1. The client takes the certificates to the broker of their choice.

2. The broker ensures that the client completes the transfer form and that the information reflected on the transfer form corresponds with the certificates submitted.

3. The broker creates the client broker account and their Jamaica Central Securities Depositor (JCSD) account . The investor will have to satisfy the requirements as outlined by the broker.

4. The broker submits the certificates, transfer form, and other relevant documents to the JCSD for processing.

5. The JCSD reviews and forwards the documents to the registrar for verification and validation of the certificates.

6. The registrar cancels the certificate in the client’s name and issues a nominee certificate in the JCSD’s name 7.

The registrar forwards the nominee certificate to the JCSD.

8. The JCSD credits the investor’s account with units.

Based on your e-mail NE had a challenge with selecting the broker of choice, but eventually he decided on Sagicor Investments Jamaica Limited (Sagicor). Sagicor sent the certificates to the JCSD on Friday afternoon, January 24, 2020 for processing. The documents were processed and sent to the registrar for Jamaica Broilers, PwC (Jamaica) Limited, on Wednesday, January 29, 2020. PwC Jamaica Limited processed the documents and sent the confirmation to the JCSD on Monday, February 3, 2020 and the units were credited to NE’s account on the same day.

We would like you to note that the entire process from receipt of the documents by the JCSD to the crediting of the account took seven working days. If the certificates had been deposited prior to this then the sale of the Jamaica Broilers Group shares could have been closed in three days. NE’s friend was referring to a security that is already held in a depository in electronic form.

In response to your question regarding education, we have Investor Outreach sessions right across the island where persons are given this information.

I hope we have addressed all concerns. Please feel free to contact me if there are any further queries.”

Please contact your bank and we wish you all the best.