Investment banks show interest in the Caribbean

Published: Friday May 30, 2008

Global credit markets may be depressed, but the investment banking community continues to show strong interest in doing business in the Caribbean.

In one of the first indications that JPMorgan is committed to maintaining the close relationships which Bear Stearns enjoyed with many of the region's key institutions, JPMorgan recently confirmed that it is sending a senior delegation to the Euromoney/Latinfinance 2008 Caribbean Investment Forum. The delegation will be led by Joyce Chang, Global Head of Emerging Markets Strategy.

Chang confirmed JPMorgan's commitment to the region: "JPMorgan is strengthening and expanding its business in the Caribbean region. We were founded more than 200 years ago and have a proud history of, in the words of one of our founders, doing "only first-class business... in a first-class way'."

Merrill Lynch and Scotiabank will also be sending senior delegations. Heading Merrill Lynch's team will be Andrew Gray, managing director and COO for Latin American and the Caribbean. Acccompanying him are key Merrill executives such as Francisco Blanch, managing director and head of Global Commodity Research. He will provide delegates with an analysis of the current global commodities market as it relates to the Caribbean.

Luc Vanneste, Executive vice president and chief Financial Officer, is the senior Scotiabank representative at the Forum. He is joined by key executives such as Pablo Breard, vice president of International Research, whose macroeconomic workshop has become an annual fixture of the conference.

Collectively they join a stellar line-up of regional speakers which includes the prime ministers of Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados, and the ministers of finance of Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.

The Caribbean Investment Forum, which is co-hosted by the government of Trinidad & Tobago, and organised by Euromoney Conferences and LatinFinance, will take place in Port of Spain, on June 11-12. To date over 350 senior regional and international figures have confirmed their attendance.


Source: Jamaica Observer
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20080529T210000-0500_136168_OBS_INVESTMENT_BANKS_SHOW_INTEREST_IN_THE_CARIBBEAN.asp