Feb 2016 Financial News

JMMB to enter pensions market in Dom Rep

Feb 17, 2016

JMMB Group Limited said Monday that its company in the Dominican Republic obtained approval in December 2015 from the regulatory authority as a new licensee to administer pension funds in the Dominican Republic.

The Caribbean nation has some US$6.34 billion invested in pensions amounting to 10 per cent of GDP, according to OECD.org which cites 2014 data.

“This is the first new licence granted in 17 years,” the group said in a related release, also stating that operations in the Dominican Republic continue to produce positive results, with the Puesto de Bolsa contributing net profits of $160.1 million for the period.

The group reported a net profit of $1.73 billion for the nine-month period ending December 31, 2015, down 7.1 per cent year-on-year, which it said was due to start-up costs of $268.3 million associated with the build-out of its business lines in the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago; as well as a $23.4 million increase in asset tax.

“The additional costs drove a 13.6 per cent increase, year over year, in the group’s operating expenses, totalling $6.3 billion for the reporting period. Without the impact of those costs, operating expenses would have increased by 8.4 per cent,” JMMB said in its post-results release.

The group posted an increase of 9.2 per cent in its operating revenue, moving from $7.8 billion in the corresponding prior period to $8.5 billion

The company says that focus remains on building out its full range of services in the Dominican Republic, which includes money market mutual funds, the newly acquired savings and loan bank Banco Rio de Ahorro Y Credito JMMB Bank SA, and now a pensions fund portfolio.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the group’s operations contributed $186.9 million for the period.

The group said that in Jamaica it saw an increase in gains on securities trading, foreign exchange trading, and commission income, which grew by 12.8 per cent, 16.4 per cent and 29.8 per cent, respectively.

JMMB Merchant Bank, it was noted, contributed net profits of $329.9 million, an increase of 40 per cent over the prior period. The group recorded a marginal increase in its net interest income from $4.1 billion to $4.2 billion.

JMMB said while operational expenses have increased, “the JMMB Group has maintained its ability to exceed regulatory capital requirements and continues to manage its operational efficiency”.

On February 11, the group listed two of its preference share offers on the Jamaica Stock Exchange US-denominated market; listing its cumulative redeemable 6.00 per cent and 5.75 per cent USD preference shares. Additionally, JMMB Group Limited also simultaneously listed its two tranches of Jamaican dollar preference shares: cumulative redeemable 7.50 per cent and variable rate 7.25 per cent. The four tranches of preference shares raised approximately $6.9 billion.

Since 2007, JMMB Group Limited and JMMB Limited have raised more than $12.8 billion in total from issuing shares to the market to fund operations.

Source:
BY AVIA COLLINDER
collindera@jamaicaobserver.com
Business reporter
Jamaica Observer
Wednesday February 17, 2016

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/JMMB-to-enter-pensions-market-in-Dom-Rep_51844