KINGSTON, Jamaica — The second day of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Outdoor Championships delivered a standout performance on Friday at Kingston’s iconic National Stadium, where middle-distance star Adelle Tracey claimed her third career national crown in the women’s 1500-meter event. Crossing the finish line with a winning time of 4:40.08, Tracey locked in her qualification for the upcoming 2022 Commonwealth Games, punching her ticket to represent Jamaica on the international stage. Tracey has already posted an impressive seasonal best of 4:07.32 earlier this year at the prestigious Drake Relays meet in May, signaling strong form heading into the multi-sport competition. Fresh off her 1500m victory, the athlete is set to return to the track this Saturday to compete in the women’s 800-meter race, where she will aim to add another national medal to her collection. In the women’s 1500m final, Annastaseca Blackwood, a rising young talent from Sydney Pagon High School, took second place with a time of 4:46.53, while Jodian Walker secured the third spot on the podium with a finishing time of 6:12.41. The men’s 1500m national title went to Amiel Thomas of GC Foster College, who crossed the line with a winning time of 4:13.69. Thomas outpaced runner-up Lamario Wright of the Racers Track Club, who posted a time of 4:15.92 to take silver. Aldain Brown of Bethlehem Teachers College rounded out the top three, clinching bronze with a time of 4:23.20. The annual JAAA National Championships serve as Jamaica’s primary qualifying event for major international competitions, including the Commonwealth Games, allowing both established stars and emerging young athletes to showcase their skills and earn selection to the national team.
作者： admin
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1,690 guests evacuated as emergency crews continue efforts to extinguish fire at Viva Dominicus Beach
A large overnight fire at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach resort in the Dominican coastal town of Bayahibe has triggered a coordinated regional emergency response, forcing the full evacuation of 1,690 registered hotel guests on Friday. The blaze broke out in the early hours of the morning, prompting immediate activation of national disaster response frameworks to contain the spread and protect visitor safety.
The country’s Emergency Operations Center (COE) confirmed it is leading the response effort in close coordination with regional fire brigades and member agencies of the National Prevention, Mitigation, and Response System (SNPMR). More than five hours after the fire was first reported, firefighting crews were still working to eliminate persistent hotspots concentrated in two key areas of the resort: the on-site storage warehouse and the employee access corridor. While open flames at the hotel’s main entrance have been fully contained, suppression operations continue to eliminate remaining embers and block any potential reignition or spread to adjacent structures.
Firefighting teams from across the eastern Dominican Republic—including units from La Romana, San Pedro de Macorís, Higüey and Verón-Punta Cana—have pooled resources and personnel to tackle the blaze. The operation has also received critical support from private and public entities, with Central Romana Corporation and Punta Cana International Airport contributing specialized firefighting equipment and additional resources to boost response capacity.
As a proactive safety precaution, all guests from the fire-impacted Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach were evacuated promptly and relocated to alternative accommodations across the region. Many guests were transferred to the adjacent Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace, another property owned by the same hotel chain, while others were moved to independent hotels in Bayahibe and beach resorts in Miches, including the Catalonia and Sunscape properties. Response officials confirmed that the entire relocation process was executed in line with pre-approved contingency plans, designed to minimize disruption to visitor trips while prioritizing their safety.
Local tourism authorities and industry groups quickly activated their own emergency protocols to support the response. The Dominican Ministry of Tourism, the La Romana-Bayahibe Tourism Cluster, and area hotels all mobilized to assist displaced guests and ensure that tourism operations across the broader Bayahibe destination remain uninterrupted.
Officials have confirmed that Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace, the adjacent sister property, suffered no damage from the fire. As a temporary safety measure, the hotel’s existing guests were moved to open, well-ventilated safe areas during peak fire activity, but the property has since resumed normal operations and is now hosting many of the evacuated guests from the fire-damaged beach resort.
In a public statement, authorities stressed that all tourism activities across Bayahibe and its surrounding regions continue to operate safely with no disruptions beyond the impacted resort. The root cause of the fire is still undetermined, with a formal investigation pending the completion of suppression operations. A specialized technical commission will conduct a full on-site assessment once the area is deemed safe to identify the origin and contributing factors of the incident.
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One dead, dozens injured after two trains collide in UK
A devastating head-on collision between two passenger trains north of London has left one person dead and dozens hurt, with 11 people fighting for life with critical injuries, United Kingdom emergency services confirmed Friday.
The crash unfolded in the late afternoon near Bedford, a market town located roughly 90 kilometers (56 miles) outside the British capital. According to operator East Midlands Railway (EMR), both trains were traveling toward London on the same stretch of track when the impact occurred. One service originated in Corby and the other in Nottingham, both in central England, and both were bound for London’s St Pancras International station.
Passengers on board described a scene of sheer chaos immediately after the collision. Pete Knapp, a traveler who was in the front carriage of one of the trains, recalled being violently thrown forward into the seat in front of him before spotting smoke billowing from the crash site. “People were crying, screaming, people were so scared and confused,” Knapp told the Press Association. He added that he witnessed multiple passengers with catastrophic injuries, including broken legs, many unable to speak in the aftermath. Knapp later took to social media platform Bluesky to share footage of the wreckage, noting he was left in shock with cuts and bruising to his legs and back. “I’m ok… Others are not good,” he wrote.
Another passenger, Teresa Itabor, told the BBC the collision hit with incredible force. “There was a massive bang,” she said, explaining that her head slammed into the seat ahead of her. When she regained her bearings, “that’s when I saw people on the floor with blood everywhere.”
Nearly five hours after the crash, the East of England Ambulance Service issued an official update confirming the first fatality at the scene. Beyond the 11 people sustaining very serious injuries, 22 more were left with serious harm, and an additional 56 people suffered minor injuries. “Those with minor injuries were treated at the scene or taken to hospital where needed,” the service said.
In total, more than 20 ground ambulances and six air ambulances were deployed to the crash site, as emergency responders launched a large-scale multi-agency rescue operation. British Transport Police declared a major incident shortly after the collision, and all EMR services to and from London St Pancras were suspended for the rest of the evening.
Unverified user footage posted to social media showed dazed passengers walking along the rail tracks beside the two damaged trains, with many waiting for evacuation in a nearby grass field. Aerial footage broadcast by major UK news outlets showed that while most of the train carriages remained upright on the tracks, at one carriage had derailed partially from the line.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded to the tragedy saying the incident was “hugely concerning”. “My thoughts are with the family of the person who has sadly lost their life, and with those who have been seriously injured,” Starmer said. “I am grateful to the emergency services for their swift response to this tragic incident.”
By Friday evening, the ambulance service confirmed all patients with the most severe injuries had been transported to area hospitals for treatment. Investigators from the UK Rail Accident Investigation Branch, the government body tasked with probing rail and tram accidents across the country, have already arrived at the site to begin gathering evidence for a full probe into what caused the collision.
Rail industry expert Tony Miles told Sky News that early observations suggest the collision was a relatively low-speed impact, with visible damage to the rolling stock appearing fairly minimal. Even so, he cautioned that “even relatively low speed collisions can be dangerous for people that are on board.”
Fatal train accidents are rare in the United Kingdom, where the national rail network has one of the world’s best safety records. The last fatal major rail incident on the UK mainline network came in August 2020, when an Aberdeen-to-Glasgow passenger service derailed near Stonehaven in northeast Scotland following a heavy rain-triggered landslide, leaving three people dead and six injured. A 2023 collision at Aviemore on the Strathspey Railway, a privately run heritage tourist line separate from the national network, left multiple people injured with no fatalities.
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Seiveright warns of fake AI investment video using his image and voice
KINGSTON, Jamaica — A senior Jamaican government official has sounded the alarm over a deceptive new scam making the rounds across social media platforms, which leverages artificial intelligence to impersonate him and promote unvetted financial schemes. Delano Seiveright, State Minister for the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, confirmed this week that the circulating clip is an unauthorized fabrication that misuses both his likeness and an AI-generated clone of his voice to mislead viewers.
Seiveright made clear that he holds no affiliation whatsoever with the video, the anonymous actors behind its creation and spread, or any investment opportunity, financial product, or service that the fraudulent content attempts to promote. In a public statement issued through his ministry, he emphasized that the deepfake video is entirely fraudulent and created without his knowledge or approval.
The warning extends to Jamaican residents and members of the Jamaican diaspora around the world, who Seiveright urged to practice heightened vigilance when encountering unsolicited online content that claims to carry his endorsement for any business or investment venture.
To protect members of the public from financial harm or identity theft, the ministry issued clear guidance: consumers should not send any money to parties associated with the clip, avoid sharing sensitive personal or financial details, and steer clear of clicking links or accessing contact information shared via the fraudulent video.
Officials confirmed that the incident has already been formally reported to both major social media platforms that are hosting the content and Jamaican law enforcement and regulatory authorities. Multiple ongoing efforts are now underway to take the fraudulent material down across all platforms and track down the individuals responsible for creating and distributing the deepfake.
The ministry is calling on any social media user who encounters the fake video to take immediate action: report the content to platform moderators, avoid sharing it with their own networks, and only seek out or verify official information via confirmed communication channels run by the Government of Jamaica and the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce.
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Italian Tourist dies after Hotel fire in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic
A tragic incident in the popular coastal destination of Bayahíbe, located in the Dominican Republic’s La Altagracia province, has claimed the life of a 46-year-old Italian visitor, who passed away Friday while receiving treatment for injuries sustained in a hotel complex fire.
The deceased has been identified as Francesca Valentino, a resident of Caserta, Italy. Immediately after the fire broke out at the Hotel Viva Dominicus, personnel from the Dominican Republic’s National Emergency and Security Response System (911) arrived on scene to extract and stabilize the injured tourist, before rushing her to a medical center in neighboring La Romana province. Despite aggressive intervention and round-the-clock care from attending medical staff, Valentino succumbed to her injuries.
The blaze triggered a massive coordinated emergency response across multiple local agencies, overseen by the national 911 system. In total, the deployment included eight response units from the Extrahospital Emergency Care Directorate (DAEH), a single National Police detail, 15 fire crew units drawn from surrounding departments, one traffic safety unit from the General Directorate of Traffic and Land Transportation Safety (DIGESETT), and two specialized drone units operated directly by the 911 Emergency System to aid in search and assessment operations.
As of the latest updates, local authorities have not yet publicly disclosed information about the root cause of the fire nor the full scope of property damage and other potential casualties sparked by the incident. Official investigations into the circumstances of the blaze remain active and ongoing as authorities work to compile a full report on the incident.
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Outrage in Italy after Trump says PM ‘begged’ for photo op
A major diplomatic rift between Italy and the United States exploded into public view on Friday, after inflammatory, unflattering comments attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump about Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni triggered fierce backlash across Rome’s political leadership, including the cancellation of a high-profile Italian foreign minister’s trip to Washington. The controversy stems from a recently released phone interview conducted by Italian broadcaster La7, whose full transcript shared with AFP has Trump making dismissive claims about Meloni’s conduct during this week’s G7 summit held in Evian, France. In the remarks, Trump alleged that Meloni “begged me for a picture” during the gathering of world leaders, and that he only consented to the request out of pity, adding that he was under no obligation to grant her the interaction and she should be grateful he did.
Meloni, Italy’s far-right prime minister, quickly pushed back against the claims in a video statement posted to the social platform X, calling the reported comments “made up” and issuing a sharp rebuke that cut across diplomatic norms. “Neither I nor Italy ever beg,” she stated firmly, adding that she was “frankly stunned” by Trump’s behavior toward a close NATO ally. In a pointed jab at Trump’s foreign policy approach, Meloni questioned why the U.S. president chooses to take such an aggressive tone with fellow allies, while taking a far more conciliatory stance toward adversaries of the West and the United States.
The backlash extended far beyond the prime minister’s office, with top Italian cabinet members uniformly condemning the remarks as an unacceptable insult to national dignity. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani labeled Trump’s words “grave and offensive” and announced he would scrap a planned working visit to the U.S. scheduled for June 21 and 22. The U.S. State Department later confirmed that the Miami business conference, which was set to feature Tajani alongside U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has also been canceled.
Further condemnation came from other senior Italian officials: Justice Minister Carlo Nordio argued the comments represented a “painful injury” to longstanding bilateral relations between Rome and Washington, while Defence Minister Guido Crosetto noted that such provocative commentary serves no productive purpose for either side.
This is not the first public rift between the two conservative leaders, whose relationship has been strained for months amid growing policy disagreements. Just this April, Trump launched a public attack on Meloni after she defended Pope Leo XIV from the U.S. president’s harsh criticism of the pontiff’s public anti-war stances on the ongoing Middle East conflict. At that time, Meloni called Trump’s remarks “unacceptable,” prompting Trump to double down on his criticism: he claimed he was “shocked at her” and that he had incorrectly assumed she was more politically courageous, while also accusing Meloni of failing to meet Italy’s commitments to NATO. Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw U.S. military troops from Italian territory in recent months, arguing that Rome has offered no meaningful support to the U.S. amid the ongoing Iran war.
In the immediate aftermath of this week’s G7 summit, Meloni had downplayed tensions between her and Trump, telling reporters that interactions between the two leaders took place in a “very positive climate” with “no friction.” She did, however, acknowledge that both she and Trump share “quite strong characters.” Photographs and footage from the summit showed the pair meeting one-on-one while seated on a sofa, with Trump observed patting Meloni’s shoulder at the conclusion of their conversation. Meloni has long sought to position herself as a key diplomatic bridge between the European Union and the Trump administration, a strategic balancing act that has become increasingly difficult to maintain as tensions flare over a range of global policy disputes.
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USA down Australia to reach World Cup knockout rounds
SEATTLE, United States – The United States men’s national football team has booked its place in the World Cup round of 32, wrapping up a clinical 2-0 Group D victory over Australia on Friday, as five-time champions Brazil entered their second group stage match amid pressure to rebound from a sluggish opening fixture.
The result came 24 hours after neighboring co-host Mexico locked in their own knockout stage berth, with the US matching their fellow hosts’ achievement with one group game still left to play. The Americans opened the scoring in the 11th minute on an own goal from Australia defender Cameron Burgess, and doubled their lead just before halftime with a headed finish from Alex Friedman that put the game out of reach.
The win marks a dream start to the tournament for head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s side, coming on the heels of a dominant 4-1 opening match win over Paraguay last week, a strong turnaround after a shaky pre-tournament build-up that left many fans uncertain of the team’s form. The US can even claim the top spot in Group D outright before they kick off their final group game, if Turkey fails to beat Paraguay in Friday’s late group fixture.
“It was a fantastic game again. We dominated against a very tough team,” Pochettino told reporters after the match.
Across the other group fixtures on Friday, Brazil entered their match against Haiti hungry for their first three points of the tournament, looking to put a underwhelming 1-1 opening draw with Morocco firmly in the rearview mirror. Haiti entered the match still searching for their first point of the group stage, having dropped their opening fixture 1-0 to Scotland.
Defender Gabriel Magalhaes acknowledged the team’s underperformance in the opening match, but stressed the squad is ready to correct course. “We know what we have to do. We know that we didn’t have a good first match, but what we can expect from us is that we’ll be really committed tomorrow and we’re going to do our best to win,” he said. “It wasn’t the match we wanted (against Morocco), but this is in the past and we’ve learned from it.”
Head coach Carlo Ancelotti announced he would rotate his starting line-up for the fixture, and framed the slow start as a test of the squad’s mental strength rather than a major crisis. “Getting off to a good start is important in a World Cup, but the most important thing is that the team, rather than being perfect, has to be resilient,” the Italian manager said.
In Group C, Scotland looked to take a major step toward history in their Friday match against Morocco in Foxborough, Massachusetts, looking to build on an opening 1-0 win over Haiti and qualify for the knockout stage of a men’s World Cup for the first time in the nation’s history. Captain Andy Robertson said the entire squad has embraced the historic opportunity. “I don’t think any of the lads or the coaching staff and backroom staff have shied away from it,” Robertson said. “We want to be the first team to be able to do that for our country. And it’s obviously a nice feeling to try and do that.”
Morocco’s preparations for the crucial match were upended Friday, after a French appeals court confirmed that team captain Achraf Hakimi will stand trial on allegations of rape dating back to 2023. The Paris Saint-Germain full-back, who has repeatedly denied the allegations, was named in the starting line-up for the match against Scotland, and welcomed the upcoming trial in a post on social media platform X. “I have been waiting for this trial since day one,” Hakimi wrote. “At last, I’ll be able to speak.”
Off the pitch, controversy emerged Thursday as the Iranian Football Federation announced it would file an official complaint with FIFA over alleged travel restrictions imposed by tournament organizers. The federation claims that despite submitting its official pre-tournament preparation schedule months in advance, organizers have repeatedly blocked the team’s planned travel, throwing the technical staff’s game preparations into disarray ahead of Sunday’s crucial group match against Belgium.
Iran had requested to fly from its shared base camp in Tijuana, Mexico to Los Angeles two days ahead of the Belgium fixture, but organizers rejected the request, according to the federation. The U.S. administration has rejected Iran’s claims of unfair restrictions.
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A dashboard in minutes — no analyst, no software, no wait
For countless small business teams, the weekly Monday management meeting follows a frustratingly familiar pattern. Key performance metrics are buried deep inside a multi-tab spreadsheet that only one staff member knows how to navigate. What follows is a messy scramble: one participant pastes cropped screenshots of key cells into a group chat, another reads off totals from a printed sheet, and the entire first 20 minutes of the meeting are wasted just confirming what the numbers actually are — rather than discussing why those numbers changed.
What these misaligned meetings need is a centralized, interactive dashboard: a single view that displays headline metrics at a glance, complete with revenue trend charts, top-performing product breakdowns, geographic sales splits, and customizable filters. When a stakeholder asks, “How did sales look last May at the Montego Bay location?”, the answer is just one click away, not a days-late follow-up email.
Until very recently, building a custom dashboard demanded weeks of work from data analysts using expensive specialized software, plus ongoing license fees to keep the tool functional. For most small and medium-sized businesses, these barriers made custom dashboards out of reach. Today, however, artificial intelligence has condensed this entire complex project into a single, plain-language prompt.
### The one-prompt process that works with AI tools you already own
The full workflow is surprisingly simple. First, export your sales data into a single clean spreadsheet with four clear columns: transaction date, product name, sales location, and transaction amount. Then upload this sheet to your preferred AI assistant with a straightforward prompt like the following:“You are a world-leading HTML dashboard designer. Build me an interactive HTML dashboard from this sales data. I want summary cards for total revenue, growth versus last month, and average sale value; a monthly revenue trend; my top ten products; and a breakdown by location. Let me filter everything by month and by location. Deliver the finished dashboard as a downloadable HTML file.”
Within just a few minutes, you will have a fully functional, interactive dashboard — complete with formatted charts, pre-calculated totals, and working filters — delivered as a standalone HTML file that you can download, open in any web browser, and share with your entire team. This is not a rough mockup or a description of what a dashboard could look like: it is a finished, clickable product ready for immediate use.
Most remarkably, this capability is not locked behind a single niche AI product. All three of the most widely used AI tools that Jamaican business professionals already subscribe to are capable of completing this task:
– Anthropic’s Claude generates polished interactive pages with fully functional charts, summary cards, and filters that open directly in the chat window and can be shared seamlessly with teams. For users who prioritize clean, professional presentation, Claude outperforms the other two options.
– Microsoft Copilot is built directly into Excel and the broader Microsoft 365 ecosystem. For companies that already store all their data in Excel and run their operations on Microsoft tools, pointing Copilot to your existing sales table and asking for analysis and visualization is the fastest, most streamlined path to a finished dashboard.
– OpenAI’s ChatGPT accepts uploaded spreadsheets directly in chat and builds fully formed interactive charts and views. Users can enable the Canvas feature to preview the finished dashboard live before downloading it, making it a convenient option for teams that already pay for a ChatGPT subscription and do not need to adopt new tools.Across all three platforms, the quality of the final dashboard depends far more on the clarity of your prompt than the specific tool you choose. Clearly state what metrics you want to display, what you want users to be able to filter by, and who the dashboard is for. This simple communication skill translates seamlessly across all major AI assistants.
### How this changes business meetings in practice
To see the real-world impact, consider a small Jamaican retail chain with three locations: Kingston, Mandeville, and Montego Bay. On a Friday afternoon, the business owner exports the month’s sales data from their point-of-sale system, uploads the cleaned file to their preferred AI assistant with the standard prompt, and spends just 10 minutes cross-checking the AI-generated totals against the original source data. When the Monday management meeting starts, the dashboard is already pulled up on the conference room screen.No one wastes time asking “what are the numbers?” Instead, the first question the team addresses is, “Why did sales drop 8% in Mandeville this month?” That is the kind of strategic conversation business meetings are supposed to be for — and it was previously out of reach for most small teams because of administrative busywork. As the author notes: “The first twenty minutes of the meeting used to go to what the numbers are. A dashboard spends them on why.”
### Critical security and quality notes to reduce risk
Before uploading any sensitive business data to an AI tool, experts emphasize that it is non-negotiable to check where your data is being stored and processed. All three major AI tools host uploaded files on their own servers, but each offers business-tier subscription plans (Claude for Work, Microsoft 365 Copilot, ChatGPT Business and Enterprise) that explicitly prohibit using customer uploads to train the platform’s underlying models. For users on free or personal plans, always double-check privacy settings and disable model training on your uploads before sharing sensitive data.Regardless of your subscription plan, sales dashboards do not require personal customer information such as names, account numbers, or staff details to deliver actionable insights. Always strip out any personally identifiable information before exporting your data, as aggregated sales data by product and location is enough to tell the full business story without exposing sensitive personal data.
It is also important to understand the limits of this AI-powered workflow. A dashboard is only as accurate as the underlying source data. If your export contains duplicated rows, typos in location or product names, or other errors, the AI will faithfully generate a visualizations of that bad data. Always cross-check a handful of key metrics — including total revenue, a random product total, and a random location total — against the original source data before sharing the dashboard with your team.
Finally, remember that a dashboard only displays business performance — it cannot make strategic decisions for you. When the dashboard flags an 8% sales drop in Mandeville, the critical judgement about what actions to take to reverse that decline still remains with your leadership team.
### Four easy steps to try before your next meeting
The author outlines a simple four-step workflow to test this AI tool in your business this week:
1. Export 12 months of historical sales data into a single clean spreadsheet with four columns: date, product, location, amount — and remove all customer personal identifiable information first.
2. Upload the file to Claude, Copilot, or ChatGPT with one clear prompt: request summary cards, a monthly revenue trend, top 10 product breakdown, geographic sales split, and filters for month and location.
3. Before sharing the dashboard with your team, cross-check three key metrics against your source spreadsheet to confirm accuracy: total revenue, one product total, and one location total.
4. Pull up the finished dashboard at the start of your next management meeting, and note which metric your team chooses to investigate first. That investigation becomes your next strategic priority.The article closes with a core reminder: Always verify AI-generated figures against your original source data before making any business decisions based on the dashboard.
This piece was written by Peta-Gaye Hardy, founder of PGH Consulting, LLC, a firm that helps finance and operations teams adopt practical, low-risk AI tools for business. Hardy authors the weekly *AI in Finance & Business* column and splits her time between Jamaica and the United States. More information is available at www.pghconsultinggroup.com, and the firm can be followed on Instagram @pghconsultinggroup.
**Disclaimer:** This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. AI tools are prone to generating errors, so all outputs must always be verified against source data. Some features described require paid subscriptions. The author holds no commercial relationship with Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI, or any other product mentioned in this piece and received no compensation for this article. Readers are advised to consult a qualified professional before making any business decisions based on this approach.
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JN Bank profit triples to $1.45 billion
KINGSTON, Jamaica — One of Jamaica’s prominent financial institutions, JN Bank, has delivered a stellar financial performance for the 12-month period closing March 31, 2026, with net profit surging more than threefold to hit $1.45 billion, new earnings filings show. The blowout result marks a dramatic turnaround from the $439 million net profit the bank recorded in the prior fiscal year, with pre-tax profit also climbing sharply to $2.29 billion in the latest reporting cycle.
Driven by faster expansion of revenue relative to operating outlays, operating profit jumped from $862 million in the 2025 fiscal year to $2.81 billion this past year. Bank officials noted that operating costs only saw a modest uptick over the period, helping the institution notch measurable progress on operational efficiency. Specifically, JN Bank’s cost-to-income ratio fell 8 percentage points to 87%, down from 95% in the prior year, signaling that the bank is trimming operational waste relative to the revenue it generates. Even with the improvement, the ratio still means the bank spends 87 cents on operational costs for every dollar of operating income it earns.
A sharp decline in credit impairment losses provided one of the largest boosts to the bank’s bottom line. Impairment charges on loans and other interest-earning financial assets dropped by more than 50% year-over-year, falling from $654 million to $285 million in the latest fiscal year. Industry analysts interpret this steep reduction as a clear sign of improving overall credit quality across JN Bank’s lending portfolio, though the institution has not yet released updated data on non-performing loan volumes or the outstanding balance of loans still under pandemic-era or emergency payment accommodation arrangements.
Total comprehensive income for the full year rose to $2.46 billion, lifted both by the improved core profitability and valuation gains logged in the bank’s reserve holdings. The bank also recorded solid growth across its balance sheet: total assets expanded to $286 billion, while customer deposits grew by an estimated $24 billion to reach just under $234 billion. Total equity increased by $2.5 billion to close the fiscal year at nearly $30 billion, with retained earnings hitting $5.5 billion. Net operating cash flow for the 12-month period came in at $13.2 billion.
JN Bank disclosed a total capital ratio of 13% in its earnings release, but it did not clarify which regulatory capital measurement the figure follows, nor did it compare the ratio to the minimum capital requirement mandated by the Bank of Jamaica, the country’s central banking regulator.
In a statement accompanying the earnings release, interim managing director Keith Levy reaffirmed the bank’s long-term strategy. “JN Bank will continue to improve operational efficiency and achieve its strategic objectives,” Levy said. “This will continue to drive its positive momentum and maintain its sustainable growth in the years ahead.”
Despite the strong headline results, the bank left several key details undisclosed in its initial earnings announcement. It has not yet shared what specific segments drove the overall income growth, the total size and performance metrics of its core loan portfolio, or whether the stronger-than-expected profitability will translate into higher dividend returns for the bank’s member owners.
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JFP appoints Metry Seaga chairman
KINGSTON, JAMAICA – Jamaican-based firm JFP Limited has unveiled a key leadership restructuring, ushering in a new era of governance following the end of Lisa Bell’s tenure as board chairman. The company made the transition official via a public media statement issued Thursday.
Metry Seaga, who previously held the top executive post as chief executive officer, has stepped into the chairman role. Taking over Seaga’s former CEO position is Andrea Melis, who most recently served as advisor to the CEO and chief operating officer. Separately, longtime COO Stephen Sirgany has retired from his day-to-day operational role but will remain on JFP’s board of directors, allowing the company to continue leveraging his decades of industry expertise and deep institutional knowledge of the firm.
In a statement released alongside the announcement, JFP praised outgoing chairman Bell for her steady leadership during an extraordinarily turbulent period for the company. During her time at the helm, Bell guided the organization through overlapping global and local crises while laying the critical groundwork for JFP’s current growth-focused strategy, and preserved consistent, stable leadership and governance frameworks through turbulent times.
“Serving as chairman of this organization has been one of the greatest honors of my career,” Bell shared in her remarks. “I’m deeply grateful to the board, our shareholders, and the entire dedicated team I had the privilege to work alongside. Even as we navigated unprecedented challenges – from the lingering economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic to the damage inflicted by Hurricane Melissa and ongoing global geopolitical disruptions – I never doubted this company’s ability to grow and reach new heights in the years to come.”
For his part, incoming chairman Seaga emphasized that the leadership shakeup balances continuity of JFP’s core mission with fresh vision to capitalize on emerging opportunities. “JFP has built an incredibly strong foundation over its history, and we are now moving into a new growth phase that requires both steady continuity and new perspectives,” Seaga explained. “I want to thank Lisa Bell for her indispensable leadership and contributions during this pivotal period for the company. I’m eager to work closely with the full board and management team to build on the progress we’ve already made, and keep delivering long-term value for our shareholders, customers, and employees.”
Melis, the newly appointed CEO, echoed that sentiment, saying he plans to build on the momentum the company has already generated in recent months. Since joining JFP in June 2025, Melis has already spearheaded the rollout of 58 targeted improvement initiatives across seven core business divisions, aimed at boosting operational efficiency, unlocking new regional market opportunities, strengthening quality assurance protocols, and scaling commercial activity. These early changes have already delivered measurable results: average contract values have jumped 50% to $4.8 million, while the company’s active project pipeline has expanded nearly fourfold to hit approximately $1.3 billion.
“Since joining the team, I’ve identified substantial untapped growth opportunities for JFP across Jamaica, the Caribbean, and the broader Central American region,” Melis said. “My top priority in this new role will be driving forward a bold regional and international expansion strategy that covers both sales and procurement, allowing us to extend our reach into new markets and business segments we haven’t yet tapped into. We’re building a more agile, precise, and far-reaching business, and I’m fully committed to accelerating that progress as we enter this next phase of scaling.”
Company leadership noted that the leadership transition comes at a time of solid improvement for JFP’s operations and commercial outlook. Over the past 12 months, the firm has prioritized disciplined cost management, refined pricing strategies, tighter operational oversight, and a renewed focus on commercial execution. These efforts have put the company on a clear path back to profitability, and positioned it to pursue both sustained local growth in Jamaica and strategic expansion across the wider Caribbean and Central American region.