Companies warned to comply with laws
MINISTER in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn is warning that action will be taken against companies that fail to comply with laws relating to risk-based supervision.
The Minister said so at the same time he announced that government is pressing ahead with plans to speed up settlements in respect of claims made in accidents, and the setting up of a Commercial Court to decide on such long-standing disputes which occur in the insurance industry.
Straughn was at the time giving the feature address at the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL) on Friday night at the Sandals Royal Caribbean Resort, Maxwell Gardens, Christ Church. Stating that Government’s desire is to improve efficiency in the way business is conducted in Barbados, Straughn said that one of the goals therefore is to implement a rigorous risk-based supervisory framework, which can be applied to all financial institutions on the island.
Noting that this type of supervision is done world wide, the Minister explained that this country’s Financial Service Commission (FSC) and consistent monitoring for compliance with the rules, will be the centre of the new framework. “Therefore the on-site monitoring of entities will be paramount and any failure to comply or to manage will be noted and the necessary action taken to deal with any concerns according to the appropriate legislation,” he said. The Government official indicated that the adoption of risk-based supervision facilitates the detection of risks in a timely manner to allow a company to concentrate on high risk areas leading to increased transparency and accountability, hence enhancing financial performance.
In highlighting aspects of the policy, the Minister said up front that the transformation path which Barbados is currently on will be driven to a great extent by new and emerging digital technologies. As such, issues like artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, robotics, block chain and similar areas, “will be at the forefront of our thought process”.
The Government official stated that the present administration is working on a project that will see police reports on accidents being fully digitized. “We feel that given this technological interaction your assets need not be tied up unnecessarily and that speedy resolution with respect to not just the settlement of the claims can be done,” Straughn told officials of the company.