JN Bank overcomes ‘close call’ to grow capital and profit

JN Bank Limited met tougher regulatory capital requirements in its 2025 financial year ending March, while also posting higher pre-tax profit and fewer impairment losses, its newly released financial results show.

It marks a steady recovery from the pressures of the previous year for Jamaica’s fourth-largest bank, according to the bank’s recently released year-end report.

“The bank’s capital adequacy ratio was 13.0 per cent, thereby meeting the revised minimum requirement set by the central bank,” the audited report states about the bank which holds $27.4 billion in capital, up from $27.1 billion a year earlier.

The Bank of Jamaica, BOJ, raised the minimum capital adequacy ratio from 10 per cent to 13 per cent, effective February this year, stated the financials. JN Bank’s current ratio meets the new benchmark. In 2024, it stood at 12.5 per cent – above the old threshold yet below the bank’s own internal target of 15 per cent. That shortfall triggered what management described as a “close call”.

“The bank is now meeting the revised minimum requirement. Management notes that the close call identified in the prior period does not apply to the current period,” the report stated.

The directors also reaffirmed the bank’s stability, stating it has adequate resources to continue operating. This marks a turnaround from last year’s concerns, when JN Bank loan write-downs were $1.66 billion, or 10 per cent of its $16.3 billion in annual revenue. That figure dipped to the single-digit range, or $653 million in write-downs in 2025 on revenue of $18.3 billion. It reflected an improved credit risk management and tighter lending practices.

JN Bank’s capital grew further to $28.5 billion at June 2025, according to BOJ data on the commercial banking sector. That puts JN Bank in the middle of the eight commercial banks operating locally. It is outmatched by three others – National Commercial Bank Jamaica with $116 billion in capital; Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica, $98 billion; and Sagicor Bank Jamaica, $30 billion.

JN Bank posted pre-tax profit of $582 million at year ending March 2025, up from $468 million a year earlier. It paid $143 million in taxes this year, but last year it received a tax credit of $793 million – boosting its after-tax profit to $1.26 billion in 2024.

“Management continues to have a reasonable expectation that the bank has adequate resources to continue in operation,” the report noted.

Part of the bank’s recovery stems from decisions including the sale of its UK loan portfolio acquired in 2024. It reflected ongoing challenges in the UK market and a renewed focus on core Jamaican operations. In 2024, the bank also sold and leased back 22 properties that, it indicated, netted $1.9 billion gain in 2024.

The Financial Gleaner got no immediate comment from JN Bank on its performance and path forward.

JN Bank was formed in 2017 amid a groupwide restructuring under which Jamaica National Group gave up its mortgage banking licence in favour of a commercial banking permit. JN Bank UK operated as a sister institution under the same group umbrella.

Last year, JN Financial Group sold JN Bank UK to Step One Money UK for £20 million. The group’s holding in the UK bank is now down to 16 per cent. The move effectively ended JN’s funding obligations for the UK entity, which had accumulated over £43 million in losses since its launch in late 2020.

steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com