JN members to cast ballots in historic vote

Today marks the day on which members of the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) will make a historic vote to reorganise the JN Group and convert the 142-year-old building society to a commercial bank.

Voting will take place at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston during a special general meeting of the society to commence at 4 p.m. Registration starts from 2:30 p.m.

The vote will position JN as the country's seventh commercial bank and the third with assets of $180 billion and savings of $101 billion. It will also become the country's first bank to be owned by its savers and borrowers.

The final vote follows weeks of positive meetings to update members in Jamaica, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada about the details of the transformation since the organisation received a court order in September to proceed with a vote.

JNBS maintains that the changes will result in positive benefits to members as it will expand its access to commercial banking services, which the society cannot currently offer as a building society. These include chequing accounts and other loans, in addition to its savings and mortgage products.

Under the proposed change, Jamaica National will remain a mutual organisation, which means it will continue to be owned by its savers and borrowers.

JNBS is currently the parent organisation in the JN Group, with subsidiary companies that include 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 JN Cayman Limited in The Cayman Islands.

The organisation also operates representative offices in Florida in the United States; London and Birmingham in the United Kingdom; and Toronto, Canada.