Sabrina N. Gordon, Staff Reporter

A branch of JMMB located on Knutsford Boulevard,New Kingston. The broker is recruiting credit advisers for placement across its branch network. -Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer

The Jamaica Money Mar-ket Brokers is expanding its New Kingston head office with the addition of a new unit to manage its credit portfolio.

"The department is expected to be up and running by November of this year," said Marguerite Cremin, JMMB marketing manager.

The investment house, to build out its income stream, has targeted corporate finance and credit services as a growth area.

The new credit department is meant to chase business and structure deals for clients.

The company is in the process of recruiting staff and has advertised for six specialists, including a credit administration manger and officer, credit manager and credit risk manager.

JMMB is also seeking credit advisors for placement in its network of branches, pushing the targeted recruitment to eleven.

"The department will come under the structured finance team, which already has six persons on board," said Cremin.

Currently, the broker's structured finance portfolio and cash-secured corporate financing is valued in excess of J$430 million, but is projected to grow to J$700 million at the end of the year.

Sure advance

According to Cremin, the department will allow JMMB to expand its current offerings to corporate, commercial and retail clients, including cash, which is offered through its Sure Advance product.

The Sure Advance portfolio, which stands at J$1.4 billion, is projected to grow to J$1.9 billion by year end.

JMMB refused to disclose the investment being made.

For the financial year 2007/08 the company estimated revenue at just under $200 million.

While not forecasting expected revenue from the expansion, JMMB says its capacity building programme is projected to boost income in the second and third year of operation. The project is in line with JMMB's '2025 Vision' of being the leading financial institution in the Caribbean. For now, however, earnings are down.

For the quarter ending June 30, 2007 the group reported a net profit of $231.2 million representing a decline of 28.5 per cent when compared to the three months ending June 2006.

The bank's earnings per share also dropped to 66 cents, a 27 per cent decline.

The bank, however, did a better job in managing its 'repos' as net interest income (NII) grew by 12 per cent to $357.5 million for the period.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com