The discussions, which started on Tuesday, are aimed at developing a framework for the regulation and supervision of the insurance sector, in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. The meeting is being hosted by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and the World Bank.
Speaking on the issue, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis Dr. Denzil Douglas shared his thoughts by indicating that the lessons learned from the CLICO/BAICO experience will be put to constructive use as the regional and other policy-makers work to put in place the kind of regulatory changes that today’s new and evolving circumstances require.
Douglas said it may not be possible to change the past, but it is certainly essential to learn from it.
Dr. Douglas noted that thousands in the Federation and throughout the region recently found themselves having to deal with the reality of a CLICO and BAICO failure.
“This has been extremely difficult experience for the entire region. But out of this experience has also sprung a widespread recognition of the importance of the region carefully examining the facts surrounding CLICO and BAICO, and identifying every possible means of preventing other companies, in that field, in this region, from producing similar results in the future,” he told listeners during his weekly radio program.
He said, during the two-day conference insurance regulators and regional financial secretaries, along with representatives from the Caribbean Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre, the Insurance Association, and the Core Committee on Insurance, will be reviewing the regulatory systems that are now in place, while also weighing and assessing other models may also be worthy of consideration, where the governance of the region’s insurance sector is concerned.
The Prime Minister said the aim is to provide even greater protection to policy holders in this region. This will be done, he said, by strengthening and harmonizing the regulatory and supervisory framework under which, and within which, insurance companies will be required to function in this region.
When completed the findings of the effort will be submitted, to the ECCB’s Ministerial Subcommittee on Insurance.