WEHBY

First Global Financial Services (FGFS), the money management subsidiary of the GraceKennedy conglomerate, plans to launch two unit trusts once the Financial Services Commission (FSC) outlines the basis under which it will further open the market for such investments schemes.

Yesterday, the FSC's George Roper said the regulator was working with a date "within this year" to have the 1998 moratorium lifted.

Meantime, FGFS is looking to register and operate here two Trinidad-based mutuals, First Global Growth Fund and First Global Caribbean Equity Fund, according to Don Wehby, the CEO of GraceKennedy Investments, the division that controls the First Global subsidiaries.

Wehby hinted at a plan for the Jamaican unit trusts at a GraceKennedy investors briefing last week, and later told the Financial Gleaner that he hoped to have the investment vehicles off the ground by September.

"We understand that the FSC is reviewing the arrangements and looking towards issuing some licences for unit trusts," Wehby said.

"The first one we are hoping to introduce is by September of this year."

The FSC, up to May 24, had 18 overseas mutual funds registered, saying the applicants had to demonstrate, among other things, minimum capital of US$300,000.

There are eight unit trusts under the management of four fund managers.

While the First Global funds have already been designed, Wehby did not disclose the specific profiles of the unit trusts, but indicated that they will be Jamaica-dollar denominated equity and money market funds.

"These will be Jamaican funds," Wehby said.

Four Jamaican financial houses -PanCaribbean Financial Services, Dehring Bunting and Golding, Capital and Credit and Barita Investsments - already manage unit trusts in the local market.

But the FSC has been reviewing the regulatory arrangements for these vehicles, apparently ahead of widening participation in the market.

Already, FGFS, an arm of GraceKennedy's First Global Bank group, operates a number of mutual funds, including some it markets for a Canadian fund manager, CI Investments for which Jamaican/Canadian Ray Chang is chairman.

business@gleanerjm.com