Govt to freeze assets of kidnap victims’ families

Government may very soon establish legislation enabling the police to freeze the financial assets of  families of kidnap victims to prevent ransoms from being paid to kidnappers. This was revealed by Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Senator Conrad Enill, as he spoke to reporters after addressing the opening ceremony of the 22nd Annual Conference of the Caribbean Group of Banking Supervisors at the Hilton Trinidad yesterday. Responding to a question about requests from police for such legislation, Enill replied that Government was seriously considering anti-fraud legislation which would incorporate such a clause to prevent negotiation with kidnappers.

Additionally, he revealed that new legislation would also be enforced in the financial sector to ensure a sound legal basis for all areas of financial sector activity. This would involve providing the Central Bank and the Inspector of Banks with jurisdiction over insurance companies, he said, noting that the bank would then have the authority to supervise and enact legislation for the mutual funds industry and the credit union sector. Furthermore, Government also intends to develop a more robust financial system which would include steps to increase activity in the bond and equity markets, the establishment of a Central Securities Depository, a credit rating agency and an automated payments and settlement system.

He maintained that financial security was not a given and that small economies like TT’s could not depend on “international financial architecture” to protect them from global crisis. Addressing the gathering at the opening, Enill stated that the time had come for management of banks to adopt a more personal touch, and he called for more “sophisticated and systematic processes of risk management practices supported by highly developed analytical skills.” Enill was of the view that the significant growth in the size of banks has made the industry much more complex than it was a few years ago. “In this environment,” he said, “the personal touch is lost and mistakes can be larger in scale and therefore have substantial systemic consequences.”

The banking industry, he continued, also faces a number of risks with the advent of increased globalisation, which has resulted in the expansion of financial markets, the growth of world trade and the emergence of new economic power centres. However, while these threats bring with them serious challenges, a number of opportunities could be borne out of these, Enill maintained. He said, “As banking organisations expand their operations both within a single jurisdiction and across borders, and financial sector consolidation increases, it is expected that consumers will derive substantial benefits through reductions in charges, interest and fees.” He noted that banks will also seek to maintain their competitive advantage by providing their customers with higher quality service and wider choices. This effort in turn would demonstrate to shareholders the banks’ value and ability to deliver solid profitability.

Enill went further to stress the need to pay closer attention to the issue of corporate governance, which should not be ignored given the corporate scandals of recent years. To enable this venture, he called for greater collaboration and consultation with appropriate standards-setting international organisations with critical necessities and praised the work of the Caribbean Group of Banking Supervisors, which he said, has ensured that the region’s financial institutions adopt best practices and enhanced the qualifications of supervisory personnel. “This augurs well for harmonisation of the financial sector regulation within our region which is being driven by the Caricom Secretariat,” he said.