“To those who have everything, more will be given; from those who have nothing, everything will be taken” – Matthew 25:29

Most financial institutions are formed to generate money from deposits, loans and interest on investments.

At their very heart they are not governed by a moral code, they do not exist to make the common man and woman’s life easier. That is not their raison d’etre. The purpose is to make money. They are never sentimental or altruistic for that matter.

Speaking at Jamaica Money Market Brokers’ (JMMB) Annual General Meeting last week at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, Donna Duncan-Scott told the audience how her mother Joan Duncan, started the company from Donna’s apartment. Inauspicious beginnings. Isn’t that always the way?

Joan Duncan had the idea that ordinary Jamaicans could access and prosper from the money markets and 30 years ago started JMMB.

Getting started

“At the time, Mummy was living in her dream house on Hellshire Beach which had no electricity and no telephone, so she set up operations from my apartment in Kingston.

“But before that, Noel Lyons called her up and said ‘Joan, I hear you have this idea. I had a similar idea. Why don’t we get together and discuss?’ 

“Within three weeks the business proposal was put together. It was an idea she had from long time and was working on it. As entrepreneurs, you have to put in the work. When the opportunity came, she was ready. Dr Noel Lyons was the head of the Jamaica Venture Fund and so she took it there. All but one on the Board wanted to be a part of it. They saw a business with possibilities.

“Six weeks after, she came to my apartment to find a location to get the business started. She said she wanted to be close to the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) because we are doing money market. We found a small unit on Ocean Boulevard and Mummy bought some used furniture and partitions to form her office. She believed in starting small, matching your expenses to your revenue, don’t start big and broad,” recalled Duncan-Scott.

The contribution of Dr Leahcim Semaj

In those early days, there was not a marketing and advertising budget to get the word out and the money market concept was relatively unknown.

An education campaign was needed.

Dr Leahcim Semaj was on a mission then to broadcast the importance of Jamaicans taking responsibility for their financial affairs and making the right investments to elevate themselves and enjoy a higher quality of life. He was about empowerment, the same thing that drove Joan Duncan to form JMMB.

Back in those days, he hosted a show called The Night Doctor and he promoted and championed JMMB and what the money market was about.

The power of media is always underestimated in the Caribbean. Semaj used it effectively to spread the word on JMMB.

Now, this was before the time of social media and all that goes with it.

Speaking virtually at the AGM, Semaj declared: “JMMB had a vision and they made it work. Thirty years later, from that little office in Ocean Boulevard, JMMB has become what it has become. So it is possible folks. They took their vision to the people, they trusted the people, they shared their vision with the people and the people responded – we are much better off because of JMMB.”

 Not the average corporate lady

Lyons and Duncan were kindred spirits, both possessing vision, dynamism, drive and determination to get JMMB off the ground.

“My mother was not the average corporate lady and Doc Lyons is not your average corporate guy. He is a unique individual. He is a man of vision and believes strongly that he can do it. He had enough currency with the early shareholders to get them onboard. I don’t think Joan could have got them to come along and start the journey for us without him. Our current chairman, Dr Archibald Campbell, was one of our first directors and he has been guiding the ship ever since.  When Doc decided to call it a day, it was Archibald that took up the reins and provided the vision for us.

“In the early days, Donna had a lot on her plate. She was IT manager, marketing manager and risk manager, but somehow things worked out. Donna came up with and developed the campaign ‘No one knows the money market better than we do FULL STOP!’ It came up on TV during the news when no one knew what JMMB was. That was the kind of creative marketing going on at the time,” said current CEO Keith Duncan, Duncan-Scott’s brother.

“We knew we stood for the ordinary Jamaican and wanted to give access to good returns that they couldn’t get from traditional financial institutions. Many people have met their financial goals because of JMMB. We provided access to secondary market instruments, to Government of Jamaica offers, commercial paper which offered high returns which in turn helped them to combat inflation. We were able to create traction and build a base.”

Having set up shop at Ocean Boulevard, the demand saw Joan needing a bigger space. She moved to offices in the Island Life Building with considerably more square footage. The business grew from there and the decision was taken to pursue an islandwide approach so a branch was opened in Montego Bay. Donna’s and Keith’s cousin did a great job running that branch.

Buoyed by success, JMMB then set up a branch in populous Portmore, deepening its footprint in Jamaica.

Haughton Terrace

With a network of branches, larger headquarters were needed. JMMB had come a long way from the Ocean Boulevard days, outgrowing the offices in the Island Life Building. Joan and the team purchased  a property in Haughton Terrace in St Andrew with the plan to let out surplus space. But, by the time they moved into these new premises, it dawned on the team that they needed all the available space. A branch was established on the ground floor with Joan setting up her office in the middle of that branch’s operations. She would rub shoulders with the clients, hear what they had to say, give them a pat of encouragement. Joan always had the personal touch.

Joan Duncan insisted that one of the top four international auditing firms should oversee JMMB’s accounting and turned to her friend Patricia Dailey-Smith, who was at KPMG, saying: “Pat, audit our initial capital of J$16 million.”

Dailey-Smith is now on the board of directors and Cynthia Lawrence, from KPMG, continues to do a very good job with the Group’s auditing.

Expansion

Having successfully established itself in Jamaica, Joan then set about forming a regional footprint having taken an exploratory trip to Trinidad and building a relationship with Lennox Archer which led to the formation of Caribbean Money Market Brokers (CMMB) in 1999, the year after Joan unfortunately passed.

The dream did not die with her. Joan’s children and extended family have always been imbued with her vision for the company and took it to unfathomable heights, extending that Caribbean footprint and establishing new business lines.

With Donna taking over from where her mother left off, the decision was taking to move out of the straight money market, fixed income securities, forming JMMB Securities Limited in 2002 with Leo Williams, who took an index approach to investing. JMMB had now become an equities broker. Today it is number one in terms of transactions and number two in terms of value traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

In 2005, JMMB Insurance Brokers was formed. The thinking was the possibility of acquiring a commercial  bank to get into the banking space. By mid-decade JMMB had a client base of about 100,000  necessitating the need to offer them other solutions.

The incessant addition of new business lines required funding. What better way than to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. In 2002, JMMB did a number roadshows, drumming up interest and listed in 2003, trading at J$4.15. Today, 19 years later, the stock is trading at J$40. It has gone as high as J$60. 

Now consider, when JMMB listed in 2003, the exchange rate was around J$51. Today, it is J$151 with JMMB’s stock moving 10 times. The Group was able to raise J$1 billion when it listed, giving it a considerable war chest for future expansion.

It listed its first Preference Share in 2008 with a J$2-billion offer. Two years ago, it went further with a J$10 billion offer.

Regional footprint

Caribbean Money Market Brokers (CMMB) took off with JMMB having a 45 per cent stake with Clico having the majority share and helping JMMB to build its footprint in Trinidad. In 2007, JMMB was emboldened enough to enter the Dominican Republic. With a population of 10 million people with a growing economy, it was an enticing proposition.

With the Dominican Republic operations gathering pace, an opportunity came up to acquire 50 per cent of Trinidad’s Intercommercial Bank. In 2012, Capital & Credit Financial Group was acquired allowing JMMB to get its hands on a unit trust and a remittance business  as well as a merchant bank which is performing well to this day.

The year 2015, saw JMMB acquire a securities business in the Dominican Republic with Julian Mair and his team building out the yield curve and stabilising the secondary market there. The next step was to get into banking in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean island and so JMMB purchased 90 per cent of a savings and loans entity. Continuing with its diversification strategy, in 2016 JMMB launched its pension and mutual fund services in the Dominican Republic.

The following year, 2017, the merchant bank in Jamaica was upgraded to a commercial bank. Coming from the second to last commercial bank in the country, JMMB is now the number four ranked bank in the country.

JMMB Express was started in 2018, a move into consumer financing in Trinidad. This business has made a significant contribution to both Trinidad’s and Group’s profits.

A seismic move was made in 2019, with JMMB acquiring a 22.5 per cent stake in Sagicor Financial Corporation for US$250 million. This bet has paid off handsomely with the returns from that investment contributing 42 per cent to the Group’s net profits.

There was a need to have a commercial bank in the Dominican Republic and the avenue was to upgrade from a savings and loans entity into a commercial bank. That was accomplished this year.

Building out an integrated financial services group

“We have built out across the Group. In Jamaica we now have integrated financial services – insurance brokerage, remittances, commercial banking, unit trusts, stock brokerage, an investment company. It’s the same in the Dominican Republic where we have our pension funds administrator, mutual funds, a commercial bank and a securities company. In Trinidad we purchased AIC Securities and sold CMMB because we didn’t feel comfortable being a minority shareholder. Instead we started JMMB Investments. We also have a stock brokerage, unit trusts, a commercial bank, a fixed income business and a consumer finance operation in Trinidad.

“Therefore we have integrated financial services across all three territories. That’s the business model that we have built out. So in 1992 we started with an injection of J$16 million of capital. In 1995 we had a net profit of J$9.2 million with funds under management of J$3 billion. When Joan died at the age of 58, the company had a capital base of $190 million with four branches in Jamaica and over 20,000 accounts.

“Today we have a net profit of J$12 billion with funds under management of J$660 billion with 22 companies. I think over the last 30 years we have been able to deliver value to the shareholders and our team members,” said Keith Duncan.

I think it can be said that Joan Duncan would have been very proud of what her family and the company has accomplished. From humble beginnings and her idea for a money market operation which was not given the time of day while she was a manager at NCB Investments, to becoming a major indigenous integrated financial player in the Caribbean.

It is every parent’s hope that their children will go on to become decent, well-adjusted persons who prosper. Her children did that and went further. Like the Kennedys in the United States, the Duncans placed value on nation development and contributing to the greater good with public service. In that respect the Duncans are the first family of Jamaica, straddling the worlds of finance, politics and public service with succeeding generations.

Not only is it a triumphant of the will, it is a testament to the aphorism, “Ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country”. 

To her children and family, Joan Duncan bequeathed a sense of social responsibility and that it goes hand in hand with sustainable profitability. Living according to the credo ‘Doing well by doing good’.