Experienced team leader and strategist, Jermaine Deans, has been appointed Managing Director of JN Cayman, effective December 2019.

In his new role, Mr Deans will develop business strategies and plans to ensure high performance and the success of JN Cayman, as well as oversee all operations and business activities of the company. 

With more than 17 years of experience in the financial sector, Mr Deans said his plan is to become more familiar with the various financial requirements of the people of Cayman in order to better provide for their needs.  

“My main goal is to see how we can work to add additional functionalities to JN Cayman that are modern, that represent a new way of thinking, a new way of doing business and add value to the services that are already being offered here in the Cayman market, and by extension, the wider Caribbean,” he stated.

Mr Deans has extensive experience in Global Financial Markets, Capital Markets, Credit, Commercial Banking, Treasury Management, FX Trading, Bond Trading, Company Financial Analysis and Corporate Strategy Re-engineering. 

He has also structured balance sheet solutions for various entities via Financial Advisory, Business Process Re-Tooling, Debt, Equity, Acquisitions and IPOs. 

“I believe that despite the maturity of the Cayman financial market there are still services that we can offer that aren’t currently available. My goal, therefore, is to assess the market and to look at what is missing from the offerings and to find a way to introduce and spear head those services at JN Cayman, all within the context of our license as a building society,” Mr Deans said.

JN Cayman is the only building society in The Cayman Islands, operating for almost 28 years. As a member of The Jamaica National Group, the company’s principal offerings include mortgage financing, as well as savings and fixed deposit accounts.

Mr Deans joined The Jamaica National Group in 2016 as a Deputy General Manager of JN Fund Managers Limited, with responsibility for Corporate Finance Advisory, Capital Markets and Institutional Sales & Trading. 

“My hope is not just to empower our customers and members at JN Cayman to make better financial decisions in order to build wealth and financial security, but it is also to empower our staff to become leaders in their field,” he said.

As deputy managing director of JN Fund Managers, Mr Deans worked as part of a team that revolutionised and expanded the services of the organisation, making it more competitive on the local and regional landscape.

“In 2016 when I started at JN Fund Managers, our portfolio was very limited. We only offered repos (repurchase agreements) and equity investments, but that was through a third party broker,” he noted.

“In the years to follow, we secured our own brokerage license. We also developed investment banking business and got deeper into asset management. Later, we launched our mutual funds business and we continue to expand and grow even further.”

Mr Deans, who is a lecturer in Portfolio Management and Financial Markets, also spearheaded the move to introduce classes in financial management to the staff.

“I am very big on training and development and I believe even the best financial expert is always in need of a refresher course. Therefore, I started up a Friday class where every morning I would engage some staff members for an hour on finance related topics,” he informed.

Mr Deans pointed out that this not only built the confidence of many staff members, but it also helped to increase unity and camaraderie among the team.

“I hope to also engender something similar here at JN Cayman, because this can only make us an even stronger team and I believe that this will redound to the benefit of our members,” he stated.

Mr Deans also plans to continue JN Cayman’s work in the community through the development of sports and the arts.