Jamaican-born Canadian Michael Lee Chin made this year’s Forbes 2021 Billionaire list

Jamaican-born Canadian Michael Lee Chin made this year’s Forbes 2021 Billionaire listed although he is listed as a Canadian billionaire. 

He is considered a self-made billionaire making his money through mutual funds.

Lee-Chin, 70, made a fortune investing in financial companies like National Commercial Bank Jamaica and AIC Limited and Forbes says he is now worth $1.6B, listed at #1931. 

The native of Jamaica acquired AIC in 1987 when it had less than $1 million in assets under management. Under Lee-Chin, the Canada-based wealth management and mutual fund business managed more than $10 billion in assets by the year 2002. However, Lee-Chin sold AIC to Canadian financial services group Manulife in 2009 for an undisclosed price after being hit hard by the 2008 recession. 

He held onto a valuable 65% stake in National Commercial Bank Jamaica, which now makes up the majority of his wealth.

The NCB Group also includes NCB Capital Markets Limited, its subsidiaries in Barbados and Cayman, NCB Insurance Company Limited, NCB (Cayman) Limited; Clarien Group Limited and its subsidiaries in Bermuda; Guardian Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries; as well as NCB Global Finance Limited in Trinidad and Tobago.

As a teenager, Lee-Chin worked landscaping at a hotel, then got a gig cleaning the engine room on the Jamaica Queen cruise ship. Lee-Chin later worked as a road engineer for the Jamaican government after studying civil engineering at Canada’s McMaster University.

He resides in Burlington, Canada.