In marking Sterling Asset Management’s 20th anniversary on Tuesday (April 27), Founder & CEO Charles Ross committed J$5 million to the Crime Stop programme over the next three years.

“We believe a critical component of helping investors secure their financial legacies is in supporting key social initiatives – particularly the fight against violent crime,” said Ross.

“We have been a supporter of the Crime Stop programme since its inception.”

With some 2,701 arrests from just over 29,000 tips, over $45 million paid out in rewards and over J$1.1 billion recovered between September 1989 to March 2021, the Sterling chairman said during a press briefing that Crime Stop has been making steady inroads in the challenging journey towards greater security through reduced crime and violence.

STERLING COMMITTED TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Also at the press briefing, Sterling reconfirmed its commitment to community development.

Its recent corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities saw the firm provide support, through sponsorship of educational initiatives such as the Math Olympiad and the UWI Science Conference, as well as hospitals, children’s homes and sporting events.

With an eye on the future, Ross pointed out that the company’s focus is on “helping our clients preserve their legacy through financial security, which also encompasses physical security, the security of property, and also the preservation of individual health”.

The company has been broadening its focus to take in mutual funds and managed equity exposure via structured notes.

In reflecting on Sterling Asset Management’s 20 years of providing greater value to investors, Ross highlighted the rationale for starting the investment firm while the nation was still exiting the depths of the 1990s financial crisis.

The crisis left many investors, both at home and abroad, wary of the local market, as local companies defaulted on their loans and several financial institutions either disappeared completely or were bailed out by the Government.

In 2001, the focus on short-term REPO rates had led investors to ignore or discount the long-term effects of devaluation and of compound interest. Additionally, inflation had eroded the value of savings and investments. There was a gap for medium to long-term investments with higher risk-adjusted returns. To fill that gap, Ross said, Sterling adopted a multi-faceted strategy.

“One pillar of our philosophy toward creating greater value is continuous investor education,” he said.

Over its 20 years, the company has held over 30 briefings and educational events geared at creating more knowledgeable investors, along with over 500 articles on various aspects of the markets and wealth-building published in the print media.

Sterling also pursued a contrarian investment strategy with a distinct focus on US-dollar investment on bonds rather than repos (making it one of the first Jamaican firms to focus on the US dollar and bond markets) and seeking the higher returns and relative safety offered by global bonds.

Ross said the strategy has paid off handsomely for Sterling clients, with US$10,000 invested in the company’s mutual fund in 2003 now worth over US$71,000. It has also helped the company to weather several crisis periods, with gains of 20-30 per cent during the European Debt Crisis of 2012-14, and 17 per cent during the COVID-19 -induced financial meltdown of 2020.

Sterling’s foresight and prudence in guarding its clients’ investments led to the call for investors to exit Barbados bonds ahead of the 2018 default. Sterling Investments Limited was also the first to launch a Dividend Reinvestment and Complementary Share Purchase programme on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

The presentations at the press briefing looked at the past, the present and the future of the investment company, with Sterling unveiling its new ad campaign for 2021.

“Sterling will strive to remain agile, focused and shrewd so as to build on our clients’ successes and grow towards the goal of becoming the top asset management firm in the Caribbean,” said CEO Charles Ross.