Currency trading and the gaming industry can benefit the Jamaican economy - Marks

She was the special guest speaker at the University Council of Jamaica's launch of the fourth Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education Week, held at the Terra Nova Hotel, in Kingston on Tuesday.

Marks stressed the need for greater dialogue between the private sector and the universities to determine areas of tertiary training and the need to mobilise the necessary resources needed.

"The speed with which the currency trading financial sector, now commonly called the 'alternative investment scheme', has attracted clients and mobilised savings indicates its potential as a positive contributor to the Jamaican economy," said Paymaster's managing director.

Many of the schemes have ran afoul of the main regulatory body, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), and after many protracted legal battles and skirmishes with the banks are now making efforts to obtain the requisite licences. The alternative investment schemes have redefined the financial landscape in Jamaica and the legislative and financial framework to monitor them is at best nebulous.

This point was not lost on Marks who noted the difficulties being experienced within such a short time as a result of an inadequate regulatory framework and a lack of knowledge of the parameters within which the sector operates, which suggests an urgent need for more suitable trained human resources both in the government institutions and the media.
Marks declared, "There must be an understanding of the difference among currency trading, a trillion-dollar global business investment and various other schemes.

"We must keep in mind that the nature of the financial system is that the regulators are always lagging behind developments taking place in the sector. What has to be done is to regulate with a view to ensure transparency and in as much as is possible financial probity, but not to stifle creativity and entrepreneurship.

ISU Dedicates Financial Trading Room

A slice of Wall Street has come to Indiana State University with the grand opening today (Nov. 15) of a Financial Trading Room.

Housed on the first floor of the College of Business, the trading room features multiple stock tickers, three video data walls and 24 student work stations with dual monitors.

"The financial trading room provides access to a variety of professional financial databases and enlivens the environment of the College for faculty, staff, and students," said Nancy Merritt, dean of the College of Business.

"Students do a lot of research in preparing for their classes, so this is a hands-on trading room that has been built very similar to what companies have in the major marketplaces," Bruce McLaren, associate dean of the College of Business, said. "In Indiana, this type of room is quite rare. There are only a handful of schools that are using trading rooms."

The trading room will help jump-start the professional careers of finance and financial services students, Amit Sinha, assistant professor of finance, said. In addition to offering a finance major, the College of Business recently launched a new financial services major at ISU to prepare students in a variety of fields, including investments, banking, and insurance.

"This room has two components, investments and trading," Sinha said. "In the investment component, students will get an idea of what to invest in and will learn how to implement investments through a trading process. To be in an academic environment and get that experience, our students will become that much more competitive in the job market."

Members of ISU's Student Investment Club have already shown their expertise by managing a real $110,000 portfolio that recently grew in value by approximately 10 percent in just six weeks. Club members say the trading room may help them do even better in the future.

"I was excited when I first heard that it was going to be built and that it gives the environment of real live trading. There is a lot of detail that goes in to investing. Having the tickers and the information available at eye level motivates you to dig deeper. It's a wonderful opportunity," said club President Bobbie Jackson, a finance and economics major from Detroit.

"Having the trading room will motivate more students to come in and work in such a great environment. The investment club involves a lot of teamwork. The more information we have, the better we will do, and the more members we get the more information we will have," added Mansour Alturki of Terre Haute, a senior finance major and the club's vice president.

The trading room and its operations are funded in part by gifts from Randall and Nancy Minas and Lilly Endowment Inc.

"Because it's one of the few in the country, the Financial Trading Room gives students at ISU a good head start with the tools that are needed to come out of college more prepared than most for the financial world," said Randall Minas, a senior vice president with Merrill Lynch in Merrillville.

"The dynamics have changed dramatically since I started in 1976.
They*re far more complex, far more global in nature and there are far more variables that affect the financial markets on a minute-to-minute basis. The data feed and information provided the center are state-of-the-art and tend to be up to date with the information as well as the ability to use the information to arrive at investment strategy and following that strategy to conclusion," Minas said.

"It has been very exciting to see the Trading Room go from paper, from just a thought, to realization in such a short time. It's going to be such a benefit to all students," Nancy Minas added.

In January, the Minases announced a $150,000 gift to the ISU Foundation to support investment and financial education programs. A 125 percent match by Lilly Endowment brought the total value of the gift to $337,500. The Student Investment Club will be investing the gift in conjunction with the club advisor, Dr. Tarek Zaher, professor of finance, and the ISU Foundation. Randall Minas indicated the gift was the first in a series of gifts to be used for support of financial education in the ISU College of Business.

Randall Minas and the couple's daughter, Dawn, owner/operator of the Culver Coffee Co., are both ISU alumni.