President of the Grenada Cooperative League, Aaron Moses, has called on credit unions in the country to educate their membership in light of the massive financial loss a number of persons have suffered after having invested in yet another financial scheme in Grenada.
Moses was referring to SGL Holdings - a financial investment scheme in which Grenadians invested millions of dollars hoping to receive high interest rates promised by the company.
He cited at least two credit unions on the island that fell prey to the scheme involving a top Jamaican trader and two locals.
Moses said he believes that the losses suffered by Grenadian investors loss were as a result of their failure to conduct the necessary due diligence on the company that took their money.
Recently the scheme was exposed when investors were informed that the company was facing serious challenges emanating from difficulties facing its trader, Olint TCI, located in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Investors were told that Olint TCI assets have been frozen pending an investigation into its operations and until such time as this matter is resolved the company is unable to make any payments to them.
The local affiliate, SGL Holdings was recently issued with a Cease and Desist Order from the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission stating that it was operating in violation of the Grenada Securities Act No 23 of 2001.
Speaking to members of the Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (PSCCU) at its 61st Annual General Meeting at the National Stadium last week Friday, Moses told members that "if only some time was spent conducting a due diligence research, these investors would have known about the risk involved.
In addition, he said that all the information about such an investment scheme was readily and easily available but yet investors chose not to educate themselves about these schemes and are now facing the consequences".
Calling on members of PSCCU to always be mindful of these financial schemes which promise so much, Moses said that there is no magic solution to making huge quick profits on an investment since it always involve proper sound investment.
"Good returns on investment only happens when it's done with a sound company with good leadership, which understand the risk involves when investing and will choose the best investment based on scientific data," he said.
Moses urged the credit union to take all this into consideration when selecting persons to serve on the Board of Directors and advised them that persons selected to carry out the business of members should act professionally and be intelligent among other qualities to avoid these kinds of pitfalls.
He also encouraged the PSCCU to educate its membership on financial management.
