S hotel officially opens

The rebranded S Hotel owned by Christopher Issa has officially opened in Montego Bay following a makeover of the waterfront resort property.

The 120-room hotel as formerly operated under the Breezes brand before its shuttering in 2009 and subsequent sale in 2011 by the pension funds that owned it to Issa’s Crissa Group.

The S made its formal market début on Sunday, January 27, with Prime Minster Andrew Holness declaring the hotel open for business. Issa initially considered branding the property as Spanish Court Montego Bay, before opting for the more concise and discrete ‘S’. The hotel sits beachside on the Gloucester Avenue ‘Hip Strip’.

New CEO for Digicel Group

Jean-Yves Charlier, who joined the board of Digicel Group last year, has been tapped as the new CEO of the telecoms following the sudden passing over the holidays of Alexander Matuschka von Greiffenclau.

Charlier is a former CEO of VEON and prior to that he was chairman and CEO of SFR. VEON, which was known as VimpelCom up to two years ago, is one of the world’s largest telecoms firms operating out of The Netherlands.

“Jean-Yves’ exceptional capacity to support continuing growth was reflected in his appointment as executive director some months ago, deepening our executive team and facilitating this succession process,” said Digicel founder and chairman Denis O’Brien.

BOJ appoints deputy for banking and currency

Natalie Haynes, who has worked at Jamaica’s central bank for more than three decades, has been named as Deputy Governor in charge of banking, currency operations and financial markets infrastructure.

She currently holds the position of division chief in charge of banking and marketing operations. The new appointment, which takes effect on February 18, will run for five years.

“In her new role, Mrs Haynes will have strategic oversight of two newly-defined portfolios: banking, depository and currency operations and financial markets infrastructure,” the Bank of Jamaica said in a statement on Tuesday.

Haynes has served the central bank for more than 31 years, BOJ said.