As the Jamaica Stock Exchange Limited (JSE) gears up for its 20th regional capital markets conference which starts in less than one week, its board and management team are reflecting on the transformation of the annual event which has impacted other parts of the Caribbean.

The JSE’s hosted its first capital markets conference in January 2005 at the Half Moon Conference Centre in St James to about 180 persons which included both panellists and attendees. That event hosted then Prime Minister Percival James Patterson and Opposition Leader Bruce Golding alongside Barbadian PM Owen Arthur and St Lucian PM Dr Kenny Anthony. That conference was meant to bring stakeholders together in an investment discussion for them to appreciate opportunities that existed in the Caribbean region.

A year after its inaugural conference, the JSE was able to secure Oppenheimer & Co as its lead sponsor for the annual event which was held for the next four years in Montego Bay. Its January 2009 conference also coincided with the JSE’s 40th anniversary of being in existence. Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson opened that conference which also had Clement Wain Iton, former JSE general manager and then chief executive officer (CEO) of the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE) and Marlon Yarde, general manager of the Barbados Stock Exchange (BSE). Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga was honoured at the 2009 event as well.

The JSE shifted gears in 2010 when it moved the conference to Kingston with the Jamaica Pegasus hotel becoming the de facto spot for the annual event. Every conference has explored a different theme regarding the capital markets and had both local, regional and international speakers discussing their views on these points. The JSE’s 20th Investments and Capital Markets Conference will be held under the theme of ‘Safeguarding the Capital Markets: People, Opportunities and Progress’ with new speakers like Kester Guy, CEO of the Trinidad and Tobago Securities & Exchange Commission, joining the mix of personalities for the three-day event.

“I would say one of the big ticket [item] is that other industries realise that the capital markets is not only for financial companies. We have seen that persons realise they can access capital even if they’re not financial companies. Therefore, the market is open to all once you have that business idea that can go to market,” said Michael Johnson, JSE deputy business development manager, at the Jamaica Observer’s Business Forum held last Wednesday.

The JSE conference has been a space for major announcements over the years with Alliance Financial Services Limited announcing its plans to go public in January 2020 and former Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke announcing different government initiatives, with the 2024 conference seeing an announcement that the Government intends to create an infrastructure holding company to be listed on the JSE. That infrastructure holding company was set to own shares in TransJamaican Highway Limited, Jamaica Public Service Company Limited and South Jamaica Power Company Limited.

“When we started, it was just mature people, but we deliberately targeted bringing in the university students and those who are at high school. What is has done is open their eyes to what is really the potential. You’re not only looking at only lawyers or doctors, but they can see themselves in business and you’ve seen out of that [cohort] of young people, who have now entered the field of business,” said JSE Managing Director Marlene Street Forrest on the JSE’s focus on attracting youth to conference.

The JSE has since hosted other investments and regional capital conferences along with supporting other stock exchanges or business stakeholders. The TTSE hosted its first Capital Markets Conference in October 2022 while the JSE hosted Guyana’s first investments and capital markets conference in Guyana in November 2023. The JSE even hosted its first regional conference in the Dominican Republic in April 2024.

These conferences make up a large share of the JSE’s other income line item with the regional conference generating $48.74 million in 2023, a 33 per cent year on year improvement. Andrae Tulloch, head of the JSE’s Regulatory and Market Oversight Division (RMOD), noted that the conference allows for various stakeholders to remain up to date on different developments in the overall capital markets.

“This is really an opportunity for people from other industries to interact with people in the financial services sector. It’s really an all-encompassing environment where you have like-minded people in the sense that they’re all open minded and here to try and see what the plans for the year are and what the capital markets holds, and what Jamaica and the region can offer,” noted JSE Chairman Steven Whittingham.