Warm, engaging, sincere and easy to talk with— words that sum up typical first impressions of Courtney Campbell, Victoria Mutual Building Society’s Group President and Chief Executive Officer. Later, the mind of a strategist, love for people and deep commitment to service begin to emerge along with evidence that he is a born leader and motivator with a talent for turning business challenges into success stories.

 Jamaica’s highly competitive mobile phone industry plus steady growth in financial services and remittances in recent years set the stage for integration and widespread use of mobile financial services. Significant advantages include reduction in transaction costs, greater efficiency and reduced costs toconsumers. Stakeholders must address several important considerations such as regulatory regime, technical options and commercial arrangements.

With the world economy showing signs of recovery in the first quarter of 2010 there are indications that the global aluminium industry is beginning to rebound. However, recovery of the Jamaican industry will lag behind world trends as the alumina plants are high-cost by global standards and so are not likely to come on stream until the global economic recovery strengthens. Hence,turnaround in the medium to long-term will depend substantially on the industry switching from oil to cheaper energy sources like coal or liquid natural gas (LNG) while achieving other operational efficiencies.