Sagicor eyes market domination

SAGICOR Group President and CEO Christopher Zacca says that the acquisition of Alliance Financial Services Limited (AFSL), once completed, will help the group to dominate the financial market.

Speaking at Sagicor’s annual awards and recognition event on Wednesday, Zacca told employees that the deal is in its final stages, however he did not disclose exactly how near the group is to finalisation.

“You all would be aware that we signed a contract to acquire Alliance Financial Services, so we are this close,” said Zacca as he illustrated to the audience the imminent completion of the acquisition.

He highlighted that the acquisition will have many benefits for the group and specifically, Sagicor’s banking operations.

“The strength of the foreign exchange market is going to be dramatically improved, so you’re going to be able to twin AFSL and dominate the market and step up to the big boys — so that’s a huge positive,” he noted.

Zacca also disclosed that the Alliance acquisition is additionally expected to boost business from various segments of the market.

“Corporate financing will want us more and more because we’ll have more foreign exchange for them to retail etc. So, there’s a lot of spin-offs.

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-report/sagicor-eyes-market-domination_247045

“A hundred new locations/agents islandwide, how can we use those? The various distribution areas and products from the bank like insurance, investments, wherever it is. It will take time but that’s the plan,” Zacca told his Sagicor team.

In the meantime, the group CEO announced that leadership plans for AFSL have already been finalised.

“We want to announce today that a home-grown guy is going to be the head of Alliance Financial,” said Zacca, who named vice-president of treasury at Sagicor Bank Jamaica, Omar Brown as CEO of AFSL.

Brown’s post will be assumed by Keri-Leigh Manning, who is currently the manager of treasury at Sagicor Bank Jamaica.

Zacca explained that Brown has been a team player and noted that he was on the company’s succession plan.

On February 9 Sagicor Group announced it had entered a “definitive agreement” to purchase 100 per cent of Alliance Financial Services Limited (AFSL), and was awaiting regulatory approval to seal the deal.

The deal, once finalised, will help to rescue AFSL, which has been out of operation since December 3.

AFSL’s sister companies, Alliance Finance Limited and Alliance Investment Management Limited, their President Peter Chin and Vice-President Robert Chin were charged on December 2, 2021 with various breaches of the Bank of Jamaica Act, the Banking Services Act, and the Proceeds of Crime Act by the Financial Investigations Division (FID) of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

Subsequently, the Bank of Jamaica decided to suspend the company’s remittance and cambio licences, highlighting that, based on the FID charges, the principals no longer met its “fit and proper” criteria to operate, thus affecting the business continuity of the operation.

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