Lee-Chin said that last month he was in North Carolina, United States, embarking on raising private equity funds to be invested in the Caribbean. On his trip, he met with North Carolina's treasurer who said that twenty year's ago he could not have envisaged the population saturation of its coastline.

"With the baby boomers preparing for retirement, preparations will have to be made to accomodate them. They are likely to consist of 100 million older people and with saturation of not only North Carolina, but also South Carolina and Florida, where are they going to go?

"They are likely to go to the Caribbean. Now with the number of people looking to the Caribbean the demand for the supply of services will rise," said Lee-Chin.

The chairman of NCB sees that there will be a demand for health care, telecommunications, entertainment and recreation.

"The Caribbean is naturally suited to be the beneficiary of this need to avoid population saturation and it will have to provide these services. It has the advantage of proximity to the United States and many of the islands are English-speaking. It has the reputation of being amenable and friendly. It is a dollar denominated zone that recognises the rule of law."

Recently, Lee-Chin was the guest of a notable Harlem Baptist reverend who told him that natives there were being displaced as a result of the middle classes moving in and the consequent gentrification of Harlem. Over the last decade, real estate prices have gone up tenfold in Harlem.

"When he told me this, my thoughts immediately centred upon Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean because Harlem is a microcosm of what Jamaica and the Caribbean will become.

"The reason why Jamaican real estate is not as well valued as that of Trinidad, the Cayman Islands, St Barts, Barbados and the British Virgin Islands is because of crime and violence - it's as simple as that. When the retirees come here there is likely to be the same degree of gentrification if we don't make the necessary preparations. When they begin to come here, we will not be able to afford real estate in our own countries. We have to provide those services they require and identify growth industries and that is why the future is great in the Caribbean," said Lee-Chin.

He said that equity capital would be looking for a home in the Caribbean, which is both a good and a bad thing. Bad because foreign capital repatriates dividends and therefore there is a compounding effect within the jurisdiction.

"This year we will have US$1.1 billion in repatriated dividends from Jamaica. We have to be conscious of what is happening and what is about to happen. We have to hold on to our assets for our future and that of our children. You compound your returns, that is how you create wealth. We know what is coming and we must adjust our behaviour accordingly.

"High interest rates have determined the behaviour of investors in Jamaica particularly institutional investors.
Rolling over fixed income instruments is not investing. Today the government is committed to a policy of low interest rates and so if you rely on fixed income, you find yourself subject to high taxes after inflation. Not to mention it negates all that is good about entrepreneurship.

"I think pension funds will start to get into equities and equities will become a source of funding for business people, hence the importance of the capital markets and the expertise needed to grow wealth. Investors today have become more comfortable with equities," said Lee-Chin.