UTC: SME-turned-exporters drive economic growth

IN his executive office on the upper floors of the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC) Financial Centre on Independence Square, Port of Spain, executive director Nigel Edwards paints a vivid picture of a healthy and adaptable organisation, with a vision.

The vision, he described, involves a thriving diversified economy bolstered by small and medium enterprises-turned-exporters.

His ten-year vision also involves a team of energetic personnel, including several new additions and alterations to the strategic leadership team.

Former chief risk officer Crystal Rodriguez-Greaves assumed the role of chief investment officer last December, allowing Dearl Bain to switch from assistant vice-president (enterprise risk management) to chief risk officer.

Deyson Scott, a long-serving employee, who started in investments, also took up a new role as chief sales and marketing officer, as did Ayanna McGowan, the new general counsel and corporate secretary, offering a new dynamic, Edwards said.

“All these positions bring a youthful energy. I’m now the oldest one on the team, which shocks me every time I say it.

“I love the fact that we have an energetic team.”

Edwards said he is proud of the recent high-profile personnel changes and their impact, individually and collectively.

“We have intentions of building internal talent,” he said.

Edwards joined UTC in 2013 as chief financial officer and became executive director in 2018. He served the maximum five-year term before his role was renewed until 2028.

“I have the easiest job in the world,” he said. “It’s interesting to me because I have a team of young, energetic, bright people with a range of responsibilities. Holding them accountable for those responsibilities is the main ambit of my job.

“My board holds me responsible for serving the unitholders and maximising their returns in the safest possible way.

“I do that with the help of this team, and it’s a real joy managing my team.”

UTC’s personnel shifts may have reaped dividends but UTC's positive performance precedes their appointments.

On June 21, Minister of Finance Colm Imbert praised UTC’s 2023 year-end results.

For the year ending December 31, 2023, it recorded a total income of $915.2 million, a turnaround from the previous year's loss of $239.4 million. The improvement was attributed to "favourable changes" in the fair values of investment securities, shifting from a $1.03 billion impairment in 2022 to a $20.6 million surplus in 2023.

This change, Imbert said, resulted from the adoption of IFRS 9 – which specifies how an entity should classify and measure financial assets, liabilities and some contracts to buy or sell non-financial items.

Investment income increased by from $776.5 million to $881.8 million, driven by improved dividend declarations and gains from higher interest rates.

The TT$ Income Fund generated $438.2 million in income, and the Growth & Income Fund $184.4 million.

Total assets rose from $25.145 billion to $25.178 billion in 2023, owing due to improved cash inflows from the TT$ and US$ income funds, which reflected the positive shifts in financial markets.

He attributed it to “favourable movements in the Fair Values of Investment Securities (present stock value), which moved from an impairment of $1,032.7 million in 2022 to a surplus of $20.6 million in 2023.”

He said this was because UTC adopted IFRS 9, which specifies how an entity should classify and measure financial assets, liabilities and some contracts to buy or sell non-financial items.

In this case, the valuation of security investments using the most recent market price at the reporting date is required.

In 2023, UTC’s total assets increased from $25.145 billion to $25.178 billion.

“One of the reasons UTC was formed was to create wealth for every individual, and that’s at the core of the philosophy behind the institution,” said Edwards. “Our owners are the people who invest with us – the unitholders. By taking their nearly $25 billion (in investments) our objective is to turn that into real cash.

“We’ve been through several years of relatively low interest rates both locally and internationally. We’ve come through a period when US interest rates were virtually zero per cent for example.

“We’re now seeing the rates start to increase and we’ve been able to mobilise with funds.

He said UTC is seeing signs that the investment climate is presenting opportunities.

Edwards referred to the National Investment Fund (NIF) 2 five-year bond offered to the public last year and oversubscribed by over 180 per cent.

“Every time we see opportunities like that, we take those opportunities and allow the transfer of wealth from those instruments into the hands of the unitholder.”Edwards said UTC is cognisant of the demands and expectations of customers and has digitalised products and services.

“Customer expectations are driven by (their) interface with Google technologies, so that becomes the minimum standard," he said.

“The challenge that comes with that, as you move with technology towards Google standards, for example, cloud utilisation helps tremendously with scale (and) providing backup, which poses security issues.”

He said part of UTC's core responsibilities is the protection of unitholders and the company against fraudsters and assured that it has invested heavily in a proactive cybersecurity team.

"There’s no compromise on security. As a financial institution, we don’t have the luxury of getting it wrong.”

He said UTC uses a “robust internal security infrastructure,” working alongside several cyber-security service providers, “who guard the perimeters of all our technology.” UTC is simultaneously focused on expansion and has an established footprint in the Eastern Caribbean and Jamaica, where it partnered with conglomerate GraceKennedy Capital Management in 2022 to offer mutual funds products, including a Jamaican dollar money market fund, the Jamaican dollar growth and income fund, and the US dollar income fund, launched last year.

Edwards noted UTC's significant local penetration and said the company aims to replicate this success in new markets while maintaining its core values.

He said the organisation is keen on investing in small and medium enterprises.

"Entrepreneurship is super-important to us. We have an interest in investing in companies that are successful and growing.

"So there's a half-selfish motivation for us as well, because if we can help entrepreneurs get to the point where they are off the ground, successful and get to scale, then that allows us to invest in those entities on behalf of our unitholders, and to get to the stage where the company is large enough to be export-led companies."Edwards spoke of UTC’s commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles, saying, "We see the need to be socially responsible. So for us, it's interesting that the ESG is becoming a global movement and as we think about what ESG means to us."

UTC runs about 300 seminars on financial inclusion and education yearly, which reflects its dedication to corporate social responsibility and its role in fostering community development, he said.

Edwards said the organisation anticipates continued success in years to come.

"Last year, we spent a lot of time thinking what's the vision for this organisation over the next ten years. Who do we want to be when we 'grow up'? That's a big piece of my job.

"One of the reasons that I often stand and look through that window into the vast blue ocean is because I have to find a way to ground the ten-year vision."