Michael Lee-Chin of Guardian Group/Fatum faces debt pressure, says manipulation at play

KINGSTON/WILLEMSTAD--Billionaire Michael Lee-Chin is rejecting calls to step aside as chairman of NCB Financial Group (NCBFG), insisting that market manipulation, not the fundamentals, is behind a steep fall in the bank’s share price, even as questions mount over his personal debt obligations.

Michael Lee-Chin owns Guardian Group Fatum through his company, AIC Limited, though the structure is a bit complex. Specifically, NCB Financial Group, which is majority-owned by AIC, holds a significant stake in Guardian Holdings Limited (GHL), which includes Guardian Group Fatum.

NCBFG shares have tumbled 57 percent over the past two years, hitting $28.63 last week, their lowest since the company’s 2017 listing, before rebounding 37.5 percent to $39.36 by Tuesday. Lee-Chin blames “games” in the thinly traded Jamaican market, while pointing to strong results: a 68 percent year-on-year profit surge to $30.5 billion for the nine months ending June 2025, boosted by a $15.1 billion one-off gain from a subsidiary sale, and record equity of $240 billion.

“If your book value is up 21 percent, how is it possible for the stock to go from $90 to $28? You can buy a dollar for 38 cents. Does that make sense?” he said.

However, investors remain uneasy about his private holding companies, AIC (Barbados), AIC (Global), Portland Holdings, and Specialty Coffee, which have pledged 97 percent of his NCBFG shares (about 41 percent of total equity) as collateral for bonds now in default. Bondholders will vote Monday on whether to defer US$364 million in repayments until 2027. Failure could see Lee-Chin lose control of the bank to creditors.

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) denied using moral suasion to push for leadership changes at NCBFG, stating it “has not nor is requesting any leadership change” at any licensee.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (CBCS) has moved to reassure policyholders of Guardian Group Fatum, that the group’s local insurers remain financially sound. The CBCS said Fatum General Insurance N.V., Fatum Health N.V., and Fatum Life N.V. all comply with prudential supervisory requirements and operate as fully independent local organizations with separate financial resources. “The financial situation of the shareholders of the Guardian Group therefore has no direct impact on the financial soundness or day-to-day operations of Guardian Group Fatum,” the CBCS stated.

Lee-Chin insists stepping aside would “play right into” manipulators’ hands and dismisses talk of being broke, citing his track record of building Canada’s largest mutual fund manager before acquiring NCB. “Every company needs an owner… someone who will make sure they do everything possible to make the company safe, sound, and profitable,” he said.

To reassure shareholders, Lee-Chin urged them to see the slump as a buying opportunity, quoting Warren Buffett: “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”

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