Photo: Jamaica Gleaner

The bank, which launched into business in late 2020, during the advent year of the pandemic, was sold last year to Step One Money UK, and the board recently released a solvency statement indicating that the bank remains adequately capitalised, despite the growing deficit.

“The company will be able to pay its debts as they fall due during the year immediately following the date of this statement,” said the directors in a January document uploaded to the UK Companies House.

Private and public companies in the United Kingdom are required by law to file company details with Companies House, an executive agency of the UK Government.

Last September, JN Financial Group Limited offloaded 80 per cent of JN Bank UK for £20 million to Step One Money, resulting in a £5 million loss. JN Financial previously indicated that the asset sale was aimed at increasing cash resources for its Jamaican entity, which has recorded losses for three consecutive years.

JN Financial Group no longer has funding obligations for JN Bank UK with the reduction in ownership from full control. Its stake in the bank has fallen further from one-fifth to around 16 per cent, following a capital injection, a source who opted for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter told the Financial Gleaner.

The move to acquire a UK banking licence occurred within the context of the local operations receiving steady remittances from that source market. For over a decade, stricter anti-money laundering rules in that country and other major metropoles have hindered such transfers. The UK bank was part of a larger plan to offer intermediary banking services for companies involved in the transnational movement of money.

“The group has encountered significant challenges in finding intermediary banks for transfers, usually referred to as a correspondent bank. This has effectively resulted in halving the growth of JN’s remittance business. It is expensive,” the source said.

“Looking back, a regional effort or partnership with other players could have resulted in a stronger operation,” the person added.

JN Bank UK is now classified as an investment of JN Financial Group, which operates as a subsidiary of the larger Jamaica National Group. Regional rating agency CariCRIS recently maintained its stable outlook for the Jamaica National Group, amid expectations that the Kingston-based financial institution would make a loss for this year ending March 2025 but a likely return to profitability by March 2026.

JN Bank UK describes itself as a provider of unsecured personal lending to markets typically underserved by larger banks. The bank never made a profit, as revealed by its financial reports.

“Based on initial projections, there should have been some losses in the early years and move to profitability by 2023. It became clear in 2022 that the bank wasn’t meeting its targets,” said the source. “And we could not have foreseen that the pandemic would have lasted several years, followed by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, both contributing to destabilising the loan market.”

The losses over five years amounted to £11 million in 2024, £12.7 million in 2023, £6.5 million in 2022, £6.3 million in 2021, and £6.8 million in 2020 – totalling £43.3 million or around $9 billion in Jamaican currency.

JN Financial has reportedly invested millions in the entity since its incorporation in December 2018. The bank, which launched into business in October 2020, was seen as a milestone cross-border investment, being the first regional bank to secure a UK banking licence, and which served to alleviate correspondent banking challenges faced by Caribbean institutions.

The operation was led by Dean Fensome, as CEO of JN Bank UK, whose directorship ended January 2023, according to the UK Companies House filings. Chris Waring has led the bank as CEO since January 2025, succeeding Paul Noble, who resigned last October.

In January and February, the new board issued statements indicating that the bank’s capital continues to grow. Additionally, audited statements showed that share capital remains above regulatory requirements, though yearly losses have reduced the bank’s book value.

JN Bank UK said it will have sufficient resources to operate over the next five years, even under stress tests exposing operations to “severe but plausible downside scenarios”. The bank also received a £21.6 million injection after the balance sheet date, and approval for “future capital issuances” to further strengthen its position.

Following the sale of majority interest to Step One, JN Bank UK appointed five new directors – Ronald Denhol, Christopher Waring, and Lionel George Smith-Gordon joined in 2025, while Michael Childress and Ken Burke were added in October 2024.

Earl Jarrett, CEO of Jamaica National Group Limited, also remains on the board of JN Bank UK.