KINGSTON, Jamaica – Members of the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) will cast their vote on a proposal by the JNBS Board of Directors to reorganise the JN Group structure and convert the building society to a commercial bank at a Special General Meeting on Monday, November 14 in Kingston, Jamaica.
The announcement comes after Jamaica National Building Society disclosed late last month that it had received an Order from the Supreme Court to summon a meeting of its members to vote on the proposed changes.
Earl Jarrett, General Manager, JNBS said the Special General Meeting will be preceded by a series of small meetings to further inform its members locally and overseas.
Locally, the meetings are scheduled for Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, where the Society was born; Montego, St. James; Mandeville, Manchester and Kingston.
Overseas meetings will be held with Jamaica National Building Society members in London and Birmingham in the United Kingdom; Toronto, Canada; and Florida and New York in the United States.
“These final meetings will ultimately position JN to respond to members’ demands for access to banking services with a more positive customer experience,” Mr Jarrett said following the receipt of the Court Order, last month.
He added, “We anticipate that these changes will result in positive benefits to our members, as this will be a progressive move for JN and Jamaicans, locally and overseas.”
Under the proposed change, Jamaica National will remain a mutual organisation, which means that it will continue to be owned by its members. And, under the proposed structure, members’ mutual rights will be preserved in a new Mutual Holding Company, which will own all the entities in the JN Group.
The organisation will separate its non-financial and financial companies, for regulatory purposes, through two sub-holding companies, which will both be owned by the Mutual Holding Company.
“In the final analysis, JN at 142 years old, will become a more flexible and modern, fully Jamaican-owned financial institution. These changes will position its operations to achieve growth for Jamaicans here and in the Diaspora,” Mr. Jarrett concluded.
Information pertaining to the Society’s transformation will be published in the print media, and detailed information, including: court documents and special proxy forms that members may use to vote, may also be accessed on the Society’s website at: www.jnbs.com/jnvotes.
JNBS is the largest building society in Jamaica with representative offices in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Canada. As at March 31, 2016 the Society held assets of $134,651,779,000, making it the third largest licenced deposit-taking institution in Jamaica.
The Society is the parent of subsidiary companies including: JN Small Business Loans Limited, JN General Insurance Company Limited, JN Fund Managers Limited, JN Life Insurance Company Limited, JN Money Services Limited, and Management Control Systems Limited; as well as The Jamaica Automobile Association (Services) Limited, and other organisations in the JN Group.
