THREE decades ago when co-founders Joan Duncan and Dr Noel Lyon started Jamaica Money Markets Brokers Limited (JMMB) as a small financial start-up to assist the ordinary Jamaican, little did they know it would have surpassed expectations to later become a money market disruptor and a regional conglomerate, running operations across three countries and servicing over 400,000 clients from a highly diversified portfolio.

Duncan, who died at the fairly young age of 58, built the business from the ground up, leaving it on a solid capital base of $190 million with four branches across the island and over 20,000 accounts. Her work which ended prematurely has, however, not gone unnoticed as she was last year posthumously conferred with the Order of Jamaica for her pioneering contributions to the development of the local money market.

The company’s ethos rooted in a “Vision of Love” is what it says continues to propel individuals and businesses to transform their dreams into reality. This is ably supported by expanded offerings in the areas of real estate, banking, investment, remittances, securities, and insurance brokerage services now operated under the JMMB Group, which officially became the parent company in April 2015 in the wake of an approved scheme of arrangement.

“JMMB has been built on Joan Duncan’s guiding principles, as a financial institution where people felt comfortable and experienced genuine care and love and their importance was not based on the amount of money they invested. It is this foundation that drew clients to JMMB and has remained at the core of who we are today,” Group Chief Culture and Human Development Officer Donna Duncan-Scott said in her responses to the Jamaica Observer.

Noting the early days of operation as “totally exciting” Duncan-Scott also said it was the pioneering spirit of creating the money market in Jamaica that drove the business’ innovation, challenging it to become solution-oriented even in the face of setbacks.

“We worked long hours to ensure that we met the standards of the regulated financial sector and was able to navigate what is now known as the global financial crisis of the 1990s and in the 2000s. Although we worked those long hours it did not feel like work as we knew it was part of something pioneering. The entire team was like one family supporting each other, and my mother [the late Joan Duncan] made no distinction between her biological children and the other members of the team as we were all treated equally. This is what has allowed the JMMB Group today to stand on the shoulders of a solid foundation — one built by a committed team who shared the vision of creating something great,” she stated.

Accomplishing a number of significant milestones in its over-30-year existence, the group made up of more than 20 companies spread across Jamaica, Trinidad and the Dominican Republic (DR) was publicly listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) in 2003 and today continues to trade at decent volumes, boasting average market capitalisation of over $50 billion.

Despite the challenges of the macroeconomic environment, now plagued by high interest rates and untamed inflation, the group through its well-thought-out revenue diversification strategy, or ‘SMART’ growth initiative, continues to go after credible performances supported by a strong balance sheet and robust risk management.

“The enhancement of our financial solutions using the integrated service delivery approach is expected to bolster our client experience by making it simpler and easier for our clients to conduct business across entities while meeting their financial needs,” commented Claudine Tracey, group chief strategy officer at JMMB.

The roll-out of “major digital solutions” including a mobile app, online onboarding, a money transfer prepaid card, and a digital wallet in the coming year, Tracey said, is to further cement the operations of the group among the best globally.

Backed by total assets of over $679 billion, up to June of this year and an active pipeline of new acquisitions— growth for the financial group is not likely to slow down anytime soon, especially as its directors looks to increase value for another three decades and beyond, working in the meantime to streamline operational efficiencies across the business while leveraging greater use of technology to improve customer service delivery.

Powered by past successes — and more recent ones including its securing of a 23 per cent shareholding in the Sagicor Financial Corporation (SFC) in 2019, followed by its full takeover of Bell Bank in the Domincan Republic last year, along with the current acquisition of private equity stakes in the Guyana-based Corum Group and a local car rental company, along with its continued deepening delve into the real estate market — the regional financial conglomerate is confident that its efforts will help to significantly raise the value of the company, further expanding its vision of love.

Son of the founding matriarch and Group CEO Keith Duncan said that based on the company’s consistent performance year on year its future remains solid, safe and secure, bolstered by its maintenance of the regulatory capital requirements across each operating territory.

“The group’s policy has been to maintain a strong capital base that exceeds regulatory requirements to enable continued growth of the business and maintain the confidence of the market. The team remains steadfast in its purpose and its mission to transform the lives of each client that it serves and the territories within which it operates,” he stated.

With the group’s journey having so far lived up to a vision which sought to establish a regional financial services entity equipped with all the solutions necessary to help individuals and businesses achieve their dreams, its principals are now, more than ever, very confident it is well on the way to doing so.

“JMMB Group has remained resilient as we have navigated the ebbs and flows of the financial sector over the last 30 years, owing largely to the solid team of experts and foundation that we have built while remaining true to our core principles,” Duncan-Scott said while again underscoring the core values of love, integrity, honesty, openness as being the key pillars and driving force behind the success of the family owned company.