BARITA Investments could eventually give way to its parent, Barita Financial Group, as the listed company on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) as the financial services group pushes ahead with the integration of its banking, investment and fund management businesses.

Chief Executive Officer Ramon Small-Ferguson stopped short of saying such a change is planned, but acknowledged during Barita’s investor briefing on Wednesday that moving the listing to the holding company is now among the options the group could consider.

“As of now Barita Investments still is, and is intended to remain, the listed company,” Small-Ferguson said.

“Certainly, as a group, we’ll give consideration to the efficacy of that kind of action and, to the extent that we contemplate going down that road, it will be the subject of appropriate socialisation, consultation and necessary approvals across the various spheres, whether it’s internal, shareholders, regulators, as the case may be.”

Barita Investments, which trades on the JSE under the ticket BIL, has been listed since 2010. Small-Ferguson said shareholders would be advised “appropriately and early” if that position changes.

The question was raised by a shareholder on Wednesday following a series of changes that have altered the structure of the wider group.

Barita Financial Group, formed in 2025, received its financial holding company licence from the Bank of Jamaica in May and now sits above Barita Investments and Barita Merchant Bank. The latter was previously Cornerstone Trust & Merchant Bank, while JN Fund Managers, acquired by Barita in January, has since been renamed Barita Fund Managers.

The structure puts banking, securities and asset management businesses under a wider Barita umbrella and gives the BOJ consolidated oversight of the financial group.

But management is now moving beyond the legal and regulatory rearrangement.

Small-Ferguson said Barita wants customers to eventually move more easily between banking and investment products as the businesses become more closely connected.

“What excites us about this reorganisation is it’s not the regulatory implications alone. It’s the impact that it potentially means that we can have on the reason we exist, which is our customers,” he said.

“So operating in this financial group allows us to offer banking services, investment services to clients across both entities. That’s particularly exciting.”

He said the holding company also gives management greater flexibility in deploying capital and liquidity across the group.

“It really gives us flexibility, as well, in terms of how we manage resources internally as a group with this financial holding company structure in place to ensure that there is free flowing of liquidity and capital throughout the group, which helps with enterprise risk management.”

A major part of that plan will run through technology.

Barita Merchant Bank has already received regulatory approval to begin introducing a digital-first banking platform, initially centred on a wallet and Visa card. That approval moved the project from years of regulatory and corporate preparation into the customer roll-out stage.

Small-Ferguson told investors that development has gone further than may be visible from outside the company.

“The truth is that the Barita group has already established its app and we have a digital experience that we are very excited to bring to market and we have already begun that process in a limited way,” he said.

SMALL-FERGUSON…Certainly, as a group, we’ll give consideration to the efficacy of that kind of action (Photo: Karl McLarty)

“The focus in the initial instance will be our bank… and our intention is for that experience to expand and extend to Barita Investments, as well.”

He declined to give a date for when Barita Investments will be added, saying he expects to have a definite answer by the company’s next investor briefing.

Other changes are nearer.

Barita has been automating and shortening several internal processes, and Small-Ferguson said customers should notice a difference from October 1.

“We are really pushing on matters from an operational efficiency perspective to close out the high-impact automation that I mentioned, the process improvements. We have some things on the cusp of closure,” he said.

“So on October 1st, our clients can face a very different interaction and experience and speed of execution with respect to their activities.”

Barita is also working against an early-2027 timetable to bring clients of the former JN Fund Managers more fully into its technology system.

The acquisition, completed on January 19, was one of Barita’s largest recent moves, adding institutional and pension fund management capabilities and pushing the combined asset management operation above $500 billion in assets under management.

It has already begun contributing to earnings.

Barita’s nine-month results show that the acquired business generated $519.6 million in net operating income and $118.7 million in unaudited profit after tax between January 19 and June 30.

Barita Fund Managers CEO Richardo Williams said the current contribution does not yet reflect all the initiatives planned for the business.

“Year-to-date, we have contributed over $500 million in terms of net operating revenue to the business, and just under $120 million in net profit after tax,” Williams said.

“This run rate doesn’t assume further strategies that we would be implementing to enhance both the top line and, I would say, the middle elements of the business to ensure that even more profits get radiated downwards to the entity, and ultimately to BIL itself.”

Small-Ferguson expects Barita Fund Managers to become a larger contributor to both revenue and profit during the financial year beginning October.

The integration is increasingly important to Barita’s earnings strategy.

Net operating revenue reached a record $10.1 billion for the nine months ended June, up 61 per cent and already ahead of revenue generated for the entire 2025 financial year. Net profit rose 20 per cent to $2.7 billion.

Management, however, continues to push for a larger share of revenues that repeat from one period to another rather than depending heavily on movements in investment markets. Net interest income more than doubled during the period, while Barita is also trying to grow asset management income and extract more business from existing clients.

“We continue to focus on strengthening the recurring earnings, setting the net interest income in the right position, growing the base in terms of the asset management, and deepening the wallet share,” Small-Ferguson said.