KINGSTON, Jamaica — Marlene Street Forrest, general manager of the Jamaica Stock Exchange indicates that in 2017 she expects Jamaica to increasingly feel the impact of global changes, which are afoot.

Such changes, she summarised, will provide a unique challenge that must be faced by the investment community.

At the same time, she said industry leaders must seize the opportunity to introduce innovations, which can provide new options.

Street-Forrest was speaking at the 12th Regional Conference on Investments & the Capital Markets launched on Tuesday night at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston under the theme:  Regional Investment Horizon: Our Options & Future. The event is being held from the January 24 to 26.

“Even as we convene this conference, we are mindful that 2017 is what may be considered as a watershed year for the world. It is the year where players in the market are not quite sure of what to expect in the financial arena,” Street-Forrest said as she gave the opening speech.

“We are operating in a world of both positive and negative dynamics that will be expected to give rise to volatility in world markets and increase investors’ anxiety.

“Therefore, within the capital markets we expect that there will be a greater demand for products and services that fit investors’ risk appetite in these times,” she added.    

Street Forrest noted that: “The USA has just installed a new president who has announced some bold plans for change and the UK is preparing to exit from the European Union.

“While the globe waits to react to these unfolding global events we in this space are patently aware that whatever changes are on the horizon for these two significant world players, who are also our largest trading partners, will impact our small and still fairly fragile economies.”

She asserted that: “We are a part of an evolving global village with interconnected markets which, although providing its own challenges, gives us viable financial options to improve our future.”

 The stock exchange head said that among the conference’s aims was to provide a showcase for industry trends, products and services; create an awareness of the importance of the capital market to the economic development and prosperity of the region; and build social and strategic alliances.

“Our theme also, of course, speaks to the various available local financial instruments and how we must bring diversity and expand on the product offerings to our clients to ensure a viable future. Our conference contemplates that there are indeed new frontiers to conquer, even as we continue to contend with the economic challenges that face our region,” she said.

The conference features talks on leadership and governance, investor confidence, regulations, new financial products and services and the winning industries within the region.

Keynote speakers include Fernando Alvarado, CEO and president Sustainable Energy Central America (Costa Rica), who is also a development investment banker. Other Speakers are Michael Lee Chin, head of the Economic Growth Council and Dr Janice Simmonds-Fisher, a medical doctor whose specialty is Integrative Medicine. She will speak on medical developments.

The JSE’s Venture Capital Pitch Room opens today and on Thursday morning CEOs will discuss their companies’ outlook for 2017 and beyond.

Lead sponsors of the capital markets conference include Jefferies LLC — the global investment-banking firm, TVJ and The Jamaica Observer, the NCB Group, among others.

Avia Collinder