Jamaica's Michael Lee-Chin Is The Only Caribbean Billionaire on Forbes List

Jamaican native Michael Lee-Chin is the only Caribbean billionaire on the Forbes 2018 list of billionaires around the world.

According to Forbes, as of March 2019, Lee-Chin has a real-time net worth of USD $1.9B, garnered from fortune investments he made in financial companies like National Commercial Bank (NCB) in Jamaica and AIC Limited in Canada.

Lee-Chin acquired AIC in 1987, when it had less than $1 million in assets. Under his management, the Canadian-based wealth management and mutual funds business managed more than $10 billion in assets by 2002. The firm was hit hard by the 2008 recession, and Lee-Chin sold AIC to Canadian financial services group Manulife in 2009 for an undisclosed amount.

He managed to hold unto a valuable 65% stake in NCB, one of Jamaica's leading financial institutions, which now generates most of his wealth.

Michael Lee-Chin ranks at number #1281 on the global billionaires list, but joins a prestigious group of black billionaires which include Nigerian Aliko Dangote, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, and a host of others.