The Opposition People's National Party is expressing concern about the apparent failure of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to provide adequate regulatory oversight of companies operating in the non-deposit taking financial services industry.

Pointing to recent media reports, the Opposition spokesperson on Finance and Public Service Julian Robinson said Jamaicans have become concerned about the safety of their funds at these companies.

Investment firm Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) is now at the centre of a fraud investigation after activities were uncovered that have affected the accounts of retired athlete Usain Bolt and other individuals.

The company has said the reported fraudulent activity was allegedly undertaken by a former employee.

"In the case of one financial institution, it is now clear that the FSC had grave concerns about the operations of the company going back several years, yet a massive fraud has now come to light, which apparently has been going on for the past several years," Robinson said.

"This emerging situation is negatively impacting Jamaica’s reputation, both locally and internationally," he said.

Robinson said on Tuesday that Jamaica needs to know what steps were taken by the FSC to address those serious issues then identified, as those concerns "seem to have been effectively ignored".

"This failure of effective regulatory oversight has been to the detriment of members of the public who had their hard-earned savings invested there," he insisted.

The Opposition spokesperson also noted that the financial services industry operates on the principles of trust and confidence, as the repository of the country's savings and the facilitator of capital for investment.

It is absolutely essential that there is effective regulatory oversight in the industry, he added.

Robinson went on to say that the Opposition is calling on the Government to break its silence and tell Jamaica what it is doing to restore confidence to this critical sector of the economy.