The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) has reported an increase in the number of investors entering the equities market from 2015 to 2019.

According to the JSE Group Business Development Manager, André Gooden, the figure rose from 3,412 in 2015 to a whopping 48,128 in 2019.

Gooden, who was speaking during the recently held ‘Investing in Jamaica’ virtual forum, added that this upswing was prompted by several large initial public offerings such as Wigton Wind Farm Limited and TransJamaican Highway Limited, which attracted new investors.

During the forum, which was hosted by the JSE and Jamaican’s Consul General in New York, Alison Roach Wilson, Gooden advised that the value of online equities trading increased from just under $77 million in 2015, to over $8 billion in 2020, despite the value of total transactions falling from $112 billion in 2019 to $61 billion in 2020.

Gooden further pointed out that, over the last five years, the JSE has raised approximately $125 billion from the more than 120 listed securities and generated market capitalisation totaling $1.9 trillion at the end of 2019.

Consequently, he said, the JSE was voted by Bloomberg as the top-performing equities market globally in 2015 and 2019, and ranked among the top five in 2019.

He added that while the equities market did fall off due to COVID-19, persons changed their way of operation, relying more on technology to continue the market trends. He noted, however, that JSE market capitalisation fell to approximately $1.6 trillion at the end of 2020, partly reflecting the impact of COVID-19.

INVESTOR BASE GROWS TO 10% OF POPULATION

Data from the JSE indicate that Jamaica’s investor base grew from two per cent to approximately 10 per cent of the population, over the last 10 years.

The Investing in Jamaica virtual forum, which started in 2019 as Wilson’s brainchild, is a long-term partnership project with the JSE, aimed at providing members of the diaspora with the necessary tools for building their finances through sound financial strategies.

The event brings together financial experts to share their knowledge on matters ranging from the stock market, short-term loans for emerging market projects, identifying channels for wealth creation, updates on the economic climates in Jamaica and the United States, investing wisely in the market, and unlocking value in a crisis.