SCOTIA Group Jamaica (SGJ) which includes the nation’s largest bank aims to set up an online foreign exchange (FX) platform that will allow clients to trade in developed nation currencies, management indicated.
The group hopes to begin offering the service this year as part of drive to offer more online services.
“The range of treasury solutions available to corporate customers will also be extended with the introduction of a foreign exchange forward product; and an application which will allow these clients to trade G7 currencies online, once they hold a Scotiabank account,” stated the management discussion in the SGJ annual report just published.
The G7 includes most of the world’s largest economices led by the US, Japan, Germany, UK, Italy, France and Canada.
Queries sent from last week to SGJ for further clarification went unanswered up to press time. SGJ indicated in its annual report that it allowed customers to buy and sell foreign currencies via internet banking since 2012. However clients could not trade a wide array of currencies and in real time.
According to management, the move towards real time rates and market information started last year within seven branches.
“We strengthened our reputation in 2013 as a consistent and competitive foreign exchange provider in a challenging economy in which fiscal consolidation and rapid depreciation of the Jamaican dollar were predominant factors,” stated SGJ adding that the treasury department earned revenues of $2.8 billion and contributed 16 per cent of the group’s pre-tax profits.
The local currency which trades at over $107.76 to US$1 lost nearly 15 per cent of its value year-on-year.
SGJ received the award of Best Foreign Exchange Bank in Jamaica for the fifth year running by the recognised Global Finance magazine.
Currently, brokerage house, Alliance Trading offers its online trading platform for trading of NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX listed stocks.
SGJ posted net profit of $11.9 billion, up $350 million from a year earlier. It comes in the context of a dip in earnings across much of the financial sector arising from the national debt swap.
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Scotia to establish online FX platform for clients
