Researcher Damien King. - File

Approximately $200 billion has been invested by Jamaicans in local informal investment schemes, local researchers have found.

The researchers are also pointing to a possible collapse of the schemes, but do not believe this will result in long-term economic damage and social dislocation.

Speaking at Wednesday's launch of a study on the nation's informal investment entities conducted by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), researcher and University of the West Indies lecturer, Dr. Damien King, noted that most investors, who are mainly middle-class Jamaicans, invest just under $600,000 in the schemes.

There are others who have invested between $1 million and $100 million in the schemes.

Lion's share in Cash plus

According to the researchers' findings, the most popular scheme among investors is the Cash Plus group of companies which accounts for 46.5 per cent of informal schemes' investor base. Cash Plus has long been boasting that it has close to 40,000 clients.

World Wise Partners and Olint Corp Limited follow far behind with 8.5 per cent and 8.2 per cent, respectively.

Executive Director of CaPRI, Kim-Marie Spence, surmises that some of the schemes could have become more popular because of the heavy publicity given to their battles with the Financial Services Commission.

Olint, however, is regarded as the safest by investors, with half of depositors claiming this to be so.

That was followed by Cash Plus. They were regarded as the safest because their masterminds, David Smith and Carlos Hill, respectively, are seen as experts.

Collapse likely

While not many investors believe the schemes will collapse, the researchers believe that there are critical indicators that a collapse is likely - particularly the late payouts of returns that are being made by some entities.

A crash of the schemes will affect the economy temporarily, they say, due to the resilience of the financial sector. Similarly, wide social unrest is unlikely, they say, because the middle class tends not to be interested in disrupting social order.

"That is not to say there are not groups of individuals who will not resort to protest," said Dr. King.