Jamaica Gleaner News- Business - Friday

Scotia hits new profit record - But cautious about growth in 2009

Scotia Group Jamaica Limited has outdone itself again, reporting another year of record profit that grew by $2 billion, to trounce chief rival National Commercial Bank, but the Canadian owned banking group fell just short of the anticipated $10-billion mark...

Chris Blackwell's new challenge - rum

For years the name Chris Blackwell has been synonymous with music, revered for developing such internationally acclaimed Reggae artistes like Bob Marley, Jimmie Cliff among others.But the 'been-there-done-that' music magnate, noted for his exceptional...

Investors take cue from BOJ - T-Bill yield rises in November auction

Taking a cue from the Bank of Jamaica, investors this week demanded substantially higher yields in the latest Treasury Bill auction, effectively sending interest rates higher.The yield on the six-month bond that has become the proxy for interest rates...

Record year for JN

Jamaica National Building Society recorded one of its best financial years for period ending March 2008, helped substantially by its cashing in on shares held in Lascelles de Mercado and Company.Indeed, the group's $3.9 billion gain from the disposal of investments...

Chris in charge - Robert Levy to chair Broilers board, brother Stephen to run ethanol business

Heir apparent Christopher Levy has been learning the business literally from the ground up since he was a teenager, and now it is his turn to run the five-decade-old Jamaica Broilers Group, over which his father Robert Levy has majority control and has imprinted his personality...

Lenders rebel against 'low-margin' cash - Development bank planning AFI audit

The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) will be reviewing the arrangements it has with its retailers of capital, designated as 'approved financial institutions' or AFIs, some of whom are reluctant to tap into funds for on-lending and consequently are not dispensing loans....

A Russian twist in prospects for Jamaica's bauxite/alumina sector

Dr Cartlon Davis, one of the most respected authorities on the bauxite alumina industry, pointed out in May that the ownership structure has moved from a very stable group of four of the six 'majors' in the field - Alcoa, Alcan, Reynolds, and Kaiser...

Moral hazard in high finance, a test for 'no drama' Obama - High finance is often not understood even by the experts

A year ago this column referred to high finance as appearing to some like the 'three-card man' at the fair, to others like a cacophony of voices in a Pocomania trance experiencing the spirit, to yet others, simply the means by which the 'big man' legally extorts...

Jamaica National moves to leverage JPS collection points

Jamaica National, the financial services group, intends to widen the range of services it offers to customers at the bill collection points it runs for the light and power company. But JN's boss says it first has to receive the green light from its regulator, the Bank of Jamaica....