Commission going digital
THE Financial Services Commission (FSC) is shifting its operations from an analog to a digital platform in the not too distant future.
Chief Executive Officer of the FSC, Kester Guy, indicated that this move is in keeping with the Government’s overall intention to digitise the public sector, with the view of improving how things are done. He made the disclosure in a press briefing with the media yesterday morning. According to Guy, this move will ensure that interactions with their stakeholders is more seamless, accessible and quicker.
“In the early part of next year we will be reaching out to all our stakeholders and introducing them to our digital platform for which they would be able to do all their exchanges with us, whether it be applying for new licenses or even submitting their quarterly or annual regulatory data or regulatory filings to us. So we are moving significantly from this analog form to a more digital form, that would help us to provide the sector with the type of turnaround and the type of information that is key,” he stated.
Referring to the newly signed memorandum of understanding with the Fair Trading Commission (FTC), he said in those exchanges the digital platform would also allow for even faster turnaround times in providing data to the FTC. He went on to explain that the digital platform is intended to impact the way in which payments are made as well.
“The Government announced its intention to reduce its use of cheques and the FSC has also announced that. And so we have given ourselves about three months in which we intend to totally eliminate the use of cheques and engage with all our stakeholders via our payments platform. Those who have to pay fees to the FSC will do so via direct deposit and other digital platform and when we are making payments to our stakeholders, we will be doing that through a similar platform,” he indicated.
Speaking to other changes that are to come, Guy divulged that some changes were coming to the operations of the Securities Division. He told journalists that they have made a decision to eliminate the annual renewal process for entities that fall into that category, which he admitted took as much as 15 weeks to complete.
“In insurance once you are licensed, you had a license and we would regulate you on an ongoing basis. But in the Securities Division, firms under that division had to reapply every year for us to make a reassessment of them. We are now bringing our operations and efficiencies into seamless collaboration, such that entities would no longer have to reapply every year for their license,” he stated.
The FSC head indicated that from January 1, 2020, they will be issuing indefinite licenses and the firms will then be regulated accordingly.
“However, all entities will be required to notify us of material changes within specific timelines and we will be releasing soon our material change guidelines, which will indicate what things you have to give us notice of before you do it. In other words, there might be things you may require our prior approval before you can do it, and there are things that once it is done, the event occurs, you may have a timeline in which you have to update the FSC,” he stated.
He said all of this is being done to gain efficiencies and leverage technology to ensure the FSC is a robust and world-class regulator. (JRT)