STEPHEN GOODEN
STEPHEN GOODEN, who, over the past two years, has managed the $50 billion portfolio at Michael Lee Chin's NCB Capital Markets, is to take-over shortly as general manager of Pan Caribbean Asset Management (PCAM), the mutual fund subsidiary of Pan Caribbean Financial Services, Financial Gleaner sources say.
Gooden will replace Rezworth Burchenson who resigned earlier this year to become managing director of Prime Asset Management Limited, the mainly pension fund management company of the Matalon family-controlled ICD Group.
AGGRESSIVE GROWTH PATH
With $6.2 billion under management at PCAM, Gooden is moving to a mutual fund company with substantially less assets than NCB Capital Markets. But as the top man at PCAM, he will have a greater say in shaping the direction of a company that is part of a group that is on an aggressive growth path - a fact implicitly acknow-ledged yesterday by his current boss, Christopher Williams, the CEO at NCB Capital Markets.
"Stephen is a solid talent and will contribute significantly to the industry over the years," Williams said. "We regret losing him, but his decision was based on career goals."
However, Williams said that as a brand, NCB Capital Markets was bigger than any individual, "including the CEO" and would therefore cover the loss of Gooden. "We will therefore continue to dominate the industry," Williams said.
Pan Caribbean's CEO, Donovan Perkins, was unavailable for comment yesterday, but the group, now a subsidiary of Life of Jamaica, having gone through a series of mergers, acquisitions and reorganisations in recent years, is now clearly attempting to extend its muscle in a grab for a bigger share of Jamaica's financial services market. For instance, the group recently received the go-ahead from regulators to transform its Pan Caribbean Merchant Bank (PCMB) into a full-fledged commercial bank, a transition which, when completed, will give it greater flexibility in the market.
At PCAM, Gooden, who has also worked at the National Insurance Fund (NIF) and the now defunct Manufacturers Sigma Merchant Bank, will be expected to drive the growth of its three funds, which last year expanded by 15 per cent. Significantly, Manufacturers Sigma was absorbed by Pan Caribbean in 2003.
Meantime, Financial Gleaner sources say that Christopher Chin Loy, who recently left Mayberry Investments as a senior investment advisor, where he had $697 million under management, will join Dehring Bunting and Golding in a similar capacity.
