WITH FHC Investments Limited (FHCIL) admitted to the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) as a member dealer and having a brokerage licence in hand, the budding firm is looking to scale its operations in 2022 as it plans to make a bigger splash in the trillion-dollar financial services industry.

The licensed securities dealer is a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Heritage Co-operative (FHC) Credit Union Limited and was incorporated on November 25, 2009. FHCIL is licensed by the Financial Services Commission as a pension administrator and investment manager. Apart from the management of FHC’s Pension Gold product, the broker offers fixed income products, portfolio management services to retail and corporate clients plus stock trading.

“It is a major milestone for us primarily because we believe in helping our members and clients along their financial life journey. They would start out with the regular savings, then transition to the consumer loans and they get to that stage of life whether it is a house or making an investment and retirement plan. We have had a number of those products, but this better positions us to guide our members throughout that financial journey and get them to financial freedom that they so deserve,” stated General Manager Karlene Mullings in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

Mullings was recruited to lead FHC in July 2020 after she spent seven years at VM Wealth Management Limited as its head of sales and client relations.

FHCIL recorded a net surplus of $24.07 million in 2019 which was quite a step up from the $3.42 million generated in 2018. The firm’s assets under management (AUM) also stood at $4.70 billion with a return on equity of 17.84 per cent, a steady rise from the $1.4 billion in 2013.

Despite the global downturn in 2020, FHCIL only experienced a $5.23-million loss relative to the budgeted loss $18 million. It also recorded AUM of $4.68 billion and saw the membership in the approved retirement scheme grow to 4,690 members.

As the equity market rebounds, FHCIL is looking forward to expanding its client base through the eleven-branch network of FHC. As a broker, FHC can directly process trades for clients rather than use a third party. FHCIL was approved by the JSE in July 2021 and made its first five trades on Monday, March 28.

“Just based on the process, that indicative approval would have been received then, but we would have had to satisfy a number of requirements in terms of evidencing how we would have prepared ourselves to operationalise it. From a structural perspective, we were able to tick a lot of the boxes to say yes, we are fit and proper to have this licence, but we would had to set up the operational structure over the last number of months to be able to do our first trade yesterday [March 28],” said CEO of FHC Roxann Linton. Linton also serves as FHCIL’s company secretary.

Mullings remarked that the JSE said FHCIL’s timeline was quite aggressive, but she was proud of her team nonetheless in achieving the goal.

FHC is the result of the merger between Churches Co-operative Credit Union and GSB Co-operative Credit Union in August 2012 and the St Thomas Co-operative Credit Union Limited in March 2015. FHC has over 200,000 members across the island.

FHCIL has five investment advisors who move from branch to branch with two traders onboarded and a third joining the operation shortly. FHCIL is currently located at 20 Dominica Drive, Kingston 5 and only requires $10,000 for someone to open an equity account along with the usual know your customer documents. As the year progresses, FHCIL will be having specials to new and existing members of FHC.

In FHC’s 2020 annual report, it was stated that FHCIL was looking to expand its product offering in 2021 through the acquisition of a unit trust licence from the FSC. Though Mullings couldn’t comment on the progress of the licence, she said, “We have a number of strategic goals and other things we’re looking to rollout. Naturally, some will take longer than others, but we’re at the stage where not able to speak about it. Expect more from us and we’re going to be moving online.”

FHCIL is currently upgrading its website and spending heavy on the digital infrastructure needs to give its clients flexibility in carrying out their business. Mullings indicated that a timeline was set for later this year to allow for online trading for members. The JSE’s Jtraderpro platform currently has 10 brokers connected with one of the other 14 brokers set to join in short order.

FHCIL is the second credit union affiliated broker after Cumax Wealth Management Limited which was formerly known as Credit Union Fund Management Limited up to March 2021. Cumax is a broker on Jtraderpro and offers unit trust products. Ideal Securities Broker Limited was approved as a member dealer on the JSE in November 2021.

“The credit union would have upgraded its core banking system on February 1. We have a modern banking system and looking to really enhance the products and services we offer to our members. We’re looking at ways to make our services to our members more convenient, simpler and looking for other solutions that will make the experience more memorable and delightful at FHC. It has been our strategic intent over a number of years and over the last year and a half, Mrs Mullings was able to lead the team in getting this done. We’re very proud at this point because of what we’ll be able to do in terms of greater service for members,” Linton closed.

“We’re always looking to be dynamic and stay abreast of the market which has gone through a number of changes over the last decade. We do have some more products in the pipeline that we’re looking to rollout in the coming months,” Mullings ended.