SAGICOR Group Jamaica (SGJ) on Friday last disclosed that it has completed 100 per cent share acquisition of Alliance Financial Services Limited (AFSL), after having met the Bank of Jamaica’s (BOJ’s) regulatory requirements.

A release from the BOJ confirmed the Sagicor’s takeover of AFSL, noting that, “Under the new ownership structure, AFSL has satisfied the [BOJ’s] due diligence requirements. In that regard, effective 23 March 2022, AFSL is licensed to offer cambio and remittance services at approved locations.”

AFSL is also now fully enabled on the international MoneyGram platform, SGJ said.

As a result, AFSL and its approved subagents were given the green light to resume full cambio and remittance operations as of Monday, April 4, 2022.

Commenting on the completed transaction, SGJ president and CEO Christopher Zacca stated: “This is a significant moment for us at Sagicor as the acquisition of AFSL is aligned to the group’s overall strategy for growth. We are eagerly anticipating the opportunity this presents for us to move into new business segments and expand our product offerings to our clients.”

SGJ in February announced that it entered a “definitive agreement” to purchase 100 per cent of AFSL, after the company’s sister operations, Alliance Finance Limited and Alliance Investment Management, were charged on December 2, 2021 with various breaches of the Bank of Jamaica Act, the Banking Services Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act.

AFSL President Peter Chin and Vice-President Robert Chin were also brought before the Kingston & St Andrew Parish Court by the Financial Investigations Division of the Ministry of Finance & the Public Service on similar charges.

As a result of the charges laid on the principals, the BOJ suspended AFSL’s remittance and cambio licences, explaining that the principals no longer met its “fit and proper” criteria to operate, thus affecting the business’ continued operation.

Prior to the suspension of AFSL’s remittance and cambio licence by the BOJ, the company operated four proprietary branches in addition to its head office at Belmont Road. It also had a network of 68 MoneyGram subagents across Jamaica.

At the time of the announcement of the definitive agreement, Zacca pointed out that the move would deepen the Sagicor’s “reach and allow more leverage in the foreign exchange market”. He added, too, that AFSL’s remittance and cambio activities would complement the Sagicor’s commercial banking operations.

Subsequently, he told Jamaica Observer that the acquisition would “give us the opportunity to develop products around prepaid cards and digital wallets”.

On Monday when Business Observer asked about SGJ immediate plans, the CEO noted, “We will be looking to leverage the relationships with the agents to expand the distribution of the group’s products.”

As such, he said, the group will begin evaluating what products are best suited for distribution through AFSL’s subagents soon.