Street-Forrest

Concerned that investor knowledge in Jamaica is "very low", the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) are launching what they hope will be a sustained education programme to lift public awareness of the opportunities and risks of financial markets.

"All persons who save and invest need to know about the different types of investment, advantages and disadvantages as well as the regulations that exist to protect investors," said Marlene Street-Forrest, the stock exchange's general manager, in explaining the reason for the week-long event, which starts on September with a service at the Kencot Seventh-day Adventist Church in St Andrew.

"In a scale ranging from low to high, the level of information about investment and the financial market was found to be very low," Street-Forrest said.

The week's activities will include radio broadcasts from the stock exchange's offices at Harbour Street in downtown Kingson, as well as public fora on investments and the markets in Kingston (September 30, Terra Nova Hotel) and St Elizabeth (STETHS, October 2).

But perhaps the major function will be a one-day exposition at the Hilton Kingston hotel on October 1, during which there will be displays as well as presentations by brokers and market analysts. It is at this expo that the stock exchange will launch a simulated game for high schools to be run every three months.

"It will be similar to what happens on the exchange from a broker's standpoint of buying, selling and the overall manage-ment of a portfolio of stocks," Street-Forrest said. "It has generated much interest so far and quite a number of schools has signed up."