Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
Claudette Crooks, managing director of MoneyMasters Limited, greets Edgar Lee (right). At centre is Donald Patterson, chairman of MoneyMasters, at the blessing and launch of the new brokerage, 7 Trafalgar Road, St. Andrew, June 21.

With well-known accountant Donald Patterson as its chairman and respected financial analyst Claudette Crooks as managing director, a new securities dealer, MoneyMasters Limited, has entered the market.

The company, based on Trafalgar Road, New Kingston, received its licence from the Financial Services Commission in February. It has a number of veteran bankers and accountants sitting on its board, including Kemel Allen, Derrick Stennett, Dwight Bromfield, Kenarthur Mitchell and Michelle Bhoorasingh.

Margin gathering

"We did our research which showed that there was a need for funds to be managed, moving away from the historical position which is that of margin gathering and, once you get into a low interest-rate environment, certainly the money management skills become more critical," said Crooks in this Sunday Business interview.

Crooks stressed investment managers, "should be able to read the market and the trends and position appropriately, based on the expected trends in the market place."

Crooks, disagreeing with the view that the non-banking financial sector is crowded, insisted that there is a niche market for MoneyMasters.

Market large enough to collaborate

"I think the market is large enough for everybody to collaborate and survive together. Maybe it's a little bit tighter now, but I don't think it is because of the number of firms that is causing the problems, I think it is the different types of options that have arisen in recent years that have affected the traditional companies."

For example, she argued, a pension fund may have limitations in its investment strategy but for an individual investor, there is a wide range of assets from which to select.

"There is really no shortage of options and more and more, we are becoming a borderless country."

As well as offering portfolio review services, Crooks says that MoneyMasters' offerings will include fixed-income instruments, equities investments, project financing and securities trading.

"Our target market is both individual and institutional investors because we have a wide range of clientele," noted the veteran banker.

"Our approach is to sit with the clients, strategise with them. We indicate what it is that should be done, where the customer is in the whole life cycle and then we either adjust as necessary, or we structure to achieve specific goals that should be met at that point in time. Our approach is very personalised."

ashford.meikle@gleanerjm.com