First Global's meet and mingle
Noel Thompson, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU: It was a cool evening when Corporate Area-based executives of the GraceKennedy Group of companies journeyed to Mandeville to join their colleagues for an evening of discussion with customers.
Heading the group were First Global Financial Services (FGFS) and First Global Bank (FGB) financial experts who were conducting the annual Dollars and Sense investment seminar at Golf View Hotel. Started earlier in the year, the bank held the series of seminars first in Kingston, then Mandeville and ending in Montego Bay on Thursday, March 18.
The seminars were aimed primarily at educating existing and potential FGFS customers on how better to manage their finances, as well as making them aware of the range of financial opportunities which still exist locally, regionally and internationally.
Each event was similar in format, with the Jamaica International Insurance Company giving away goodie baskets and FX Traders distributing discount cards.
there is hope
Vice-president for portfolio management at FGFS, Dean McDonald, said in spite of the challenges facing Jamaicans, his organisation did not want customers to panic, but to realise there was hope, which involved planning.
"There are investment opportunities and we want to educate people about them. There are many ways to invest and we want to make everybody aware that there are tax-efficient options such as the stock market and long-term investment accounts for a fixed period," he said.
Dennis Mirjah and his wife, Joyce, are Canadian-Jamaican citizens. Each year, the couple plan their vacation to coincide with the dates that FGFS that the bank holds the financial seminars in Montego Bay.
"We can't afford to miss it, it is quite an informative session," Dennis, a retired medical researcher and IT specialist, told Outlook. "We invest with First Global Bank and we keep attending these seminars because knowledge can never be too much in the financial sector. We want to invest carefully and successfully, so we choose FGB," he added.