Marlene Street Forrest, managing director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange Group (JSEG), indicates that the JSE and its subsidiary will continue to emphasise process improvements, adding to what has been done in the last several years.

More of this will be seen in 2022 she said, noting that changes to be introduced will broaden investment options while continuing to improve market education.

“Digital transformation of the exchange is critical; therefore, we continue in the mode and the market should expect more product and service rollout in 2022,” Street Forrest told the Jamaica Observer.

The company, which has been seeking to minimise the impact of pandemic conditions on listed companies, spent several months in court during the last 18 months seeking to secure digital meetings so that companies could hold their AGMs.

While it was managing this crisis, it also continued the integration of new trading platforms. Starting operations in 1969, the JSE Group includes the Jamaica Central Securities Depository Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary.

The subsidiary was established to provide depository, and settlement services for securities traded electronically on the floor of the Jamaica Stock Exchange using a book entry system.

The company, meanwhile, continues to improve profitability. The JSEG recorded a net profit after tax of $187.3 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021, which was above the corresponding quarter in 2020 by 156.1 per cent.

Total income for the JSEG of $621.4 million, represents a $248.2 million (66.5 per cent) increase over the corresponding quarter of 2020. The increase is mainly due to cess and fee income, which grew by $175.3 million (307 per cent) and $70.7m (23.7 per cent), respectively, over the comparable period.

Net profit after tax of $187.3 million represents an increase of $114.2 million (156.1 per cent) when compared to the profit of $73.1M for the corresponding period in 2020.

Street Forrest, noting that the market was showing signs of recovery under pandemic conditions, said that income was also derived from new services being offered by the group.

Street Forrest outlined that the JSEG will continue in the medium to long term to pursue a strategic path of growth through the promotion of new and existing markets, new product development and the continuous improvement in systems and service delivery to the customers and other stakeholders.

In an update provided to the Business Observer, the JSE head said, “The JSE has made several investments in people, product and processes and has in keeping with our risk management strategies, invested in bolstering our internal risk resilience through adoption of ERM [enterprise risk management] framework, cybersecurity framework and also data security.

“These have all been undertaken to ensure sustainability and the integrity of the market for issuers and investors alike.”

Street Forrest said that the JSE is in the mode of constant improvement of both product, people and process. She told the Business Observer, “It is what makes the JSE successful to date as it is important to better or best and where there are areas that we can improve, we make all efforts to do so.”

She stated that performance of the JSE is driven by the embrace of technology, training, and market education. “Market education will continue to be emphasised in 2022,” the JSE head said, adding, “We have been on an ongoing programme to educate the investing public on our service such as mandates.

“Understanding how trading and settlement occurs, the communication from our listed companies and how they are disseminated and where there is a delay, what are some reasons that could occur and areas such as circuit breaker and how that protects them as investors.”

Street Forrest concluded, “Communication is very important in improving transparency so we will be rolling out a new and improved version of our website by the end of the year and we are pursuing certain services which we believe will allow our investors to broaden their options in investing.”

Street Forrest noted that the e-Campus was designed to provide continuous training for listed companies, investors, and internal staff.

“With the onset of COVID19 the JSE has been making most of our deliveries online and also using curated content,” she noted.