Call to review legislation

Inez Sinanan, President of the Association of Trinidad and Tobago Insurance Companies (ATTIC), has called for the completion of legislative amendments of several Acts regarding the financial services sector to ensure that this sector is elevated to world class standards. In the ATTIC newsletter for December, Sinanan noted that the financial sector of Trinidad and Tobago currently played a significant role in the CARICOM region. As such, she said, it was only fitting that Government take a closer look at the Insurance Act, Financial Institutions Act, the Securities Industry Act as well as the Cooperative Societies Act.

She also stressed the need for institutional reforms by way of the integration of the Banking, Insurance and Pension Fund industries, as well as the enhancement of “existing prudential and supervisory legislation” in order to regulate the Mutual Funds Industry. The future of the insurance and financial services sector, she said, lay in the deepening of distribution channels and product development, which was marketed not only by intermediaries such as brokers and agents, but through E-Commerce capabilities in order to increase and maintain high levels of client retention. She said, “Uppermost in the minds is not so much the business transaction itself, but making sure the needs and circumstances of all involved are fairly considered.” She went on to stress that insurance companies and intermediaries needed to define themselves as “customer-centric,” using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programmes. “Business priorities,” she said, “of talent upgrade, process improvement, digitisation and brand development are critical factors in the success of CRM.”

Sinanan further expressed her belief that crime had a major part to play in TT’s future, being one of the determining factors in TT’s ability to secure the headquarters of the FTAA. Crime, she maintained, could create an environment non-favourable to foreign investment. Additionally, she said, it posed a major challenge for businessmen who were forced to increase their expenditure in security measures. The wider population, she said, remained greatly dissatisfied with present measures and programmes geared at fighting the escalating crime situation. They considered it their right and government’s obligation to provide a safe and healthy environment, she added, noting that the major challenge lay in finding the right solutions in a timely manner, despite the selected mechanisms. She said, “Where quality and safety are not present, then profitability cannot be present and, therefore, to achieve the returns that our capital providers expect will require us to be even more selective and better at what we do.”