Court clears October shareholder votes as Scotia Group Jamaica nears JSE exit

Scotia Group Jamaica Limited has secured court leave to call shareholder gatherings in October that may clear the way for its exit from the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

On July 15, Justice David Batts signed an order permitting the lender to move ahead with those sessions, which will ask investors to endorse a proposed scheme of arrangement. Scotiabank Caribbean Holdings — the parent of Scotia Group Jamaica — will meet on October 7 at the AC Hotel by Marriott on Lady Musgrave Road in Kingston.

The plan calls for Scotiabank Caribbean Holdings to acquire every remaining ordinary share in Scotia Group Jamaica still owned by minority investors, taking the business off the public market. Scotia Group Jamaica runs Scotiabank’s Jamaican banking arm and ranks among the island’s leading financial institutions. Its shares trade on the Jamaica Stock Exchange under the symbol SGJ.

SGJ ranks among the exchange’s biggest listings, with a market value of about $178 billion. For the quarter ended April 2026, the group posted net earnings of $5.96 billion — a 19 per cent rise from the same period a year earlier — and $10.08 billion across the first half. Leaving the JSE would remove a reliable dividend payer from the board; directors approved a second interim payout of 45 cents a share in June.