Kumar’s Learning Curve

Catherine Kumar is a big believer in destiny. The recently appointed Inspec-tor of Banks, who served the financial services industry of Trinidad for more than 30 years, once dreamed of becoming a doctor. However, fate took her down an entirely different path but today she has no regrets. Gazing out at the breath-taking view of the Gulf of Paria from her office on the nineteenth floor of the Central Bank towers, Kumar reminisced on what she now calls her “altruistic” dreams of being a “good Samaritan” and saving the people of destitute countries which could not afford proper health care. However, since Physics, which was a requirement to be accepted into Medical school, was not offered at her alma mater St Joseph’s Convent, PoS, Kumar was forced to rethink her options. “Because I couldn’t do medicine,” she says, “I signed up to do Natural Sciences at UWI, because sciences was my field. I was still hoping that something would lead me to medicine. “However, I worked for one year at a bank and that year of exposure opened up a different world for me. I found the entire finance and banking sector very exciting.”

Changing her faculty from Natural Sciences to Manage-ment was a big step for Kumar. “I probably talked to a million and one people,” she recalled. “I eventually changed faculties on the last day.” And after attaining her BSc in Management, she  went on for ACCA. “I honestly have no regrets.” In her capacity as Inspector of Banks, Kumar, former Chief Operating Officer and Execu-tive Director on the Board at Algico, has the responsibility of regulating banking and non-banking financial institutions under the Financial Institutions Act. She explained that once Government passes legislation for a proposed decision to incorporate all banks and insurance companies under one section, her title would be changed to Inspector of Fi-nancial Institutions. However, she noted, the Securities Industry will remain under the control of the Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC). Although Kumar has welcomed the challenges of her new position with open arms, she does admit to placing a lot of expectations on herself to learn as much as she can in the shortest possible time. “There is a whole lot more late night reading to do,” she said, “because I have a lot of catching up to do. It is a learning curve in that I am new to the Central Bank, and I don’t know the banking industry in depth.” “In this way,” she continued, “my free time has been taken away from me, but I don’t mind. I am really enjoying it. With all that I am learning, it is almost like I have gone back to school without being in the classroom environment.”

At 52, Kumar’s resume is extensive, having started off at the Maritime Group of Companies immediately after University and moving on to Ernst and Young as the first female Audit Manager, once she became a chartered accountant. She tried her hand at Management consulting for four years before joining Algico as the Comptroller, eventually moving up to the position of Director of Finance. After 17 years on the job at Algico, Kumar was appointed Chief Operating Officer which placed in her hands the operational activity of the offices in TT, the Eastern Caribbean, the Netherland Antilles and the Cayman Islands. In 2000, Kumar was appointed President of the American Chamber of Commerce to TT (AMCHAM) following the resignation of David White. According to the Chamber’s by-laws, the Vice President automatically assumed the position of President once the previous holder resigned. Accepting this position, Kumar admitted, was a big challenge for her, especially since she was the first female director at the Chamber and ultimately the first female President. “The pressure was more inward pressure from myself,” she maintained. “The American Chamber is a big chamber, well recognised. Could I handle going to Washington, Capitol Hill, meeting congressmen?”

“I mean David White was this powerful person in Trinidad, who was Catherine Kumar to take over from him?” However, in spite of her insecurities, Kumar persevered and won the approval of her fellow board members. She went further to pave the way for the appointment of five additional females to the Board. She said, “once I became the first female director, obviously it was not going to stay like that. “There were a lot of professional women around who we could bring on board.” “There are so many women who can do great things, but who are just not given the chance to be recognised and to make a contribution.” Like most other women involved in the corporate rat race, Kumar has faced skepticism from her male counterparts, which was her major challenge in her climb to the top. “The challenge,” she maintained, “is getting the men to understand that you still have some motherly functions to perform in addition to your career. “Generally I think I have been in an environment where people have understood it, but I have interacted with people who did not understand. “It is not a big obstacle, but it is something you have to be aware of all the time and try to balance it if you want to take on a job in a male dominated world.”

She commended her colleague, Judy Chang, the recently appointed Banking Ombudsman, the first of either gender, and noted that the perception of women in business society had undergone a drastic transition within recent times. However, she called for more women to take up leading roles, rather than confining themselves to management positions or as she termed it “the second rung.” For Kumar, the future is bright. Her contract as Inspector of Financial Institutions expires in five years and after that the sky is the limit for this wife and mother of ten-year old named Cian. “I would say that there are other things I would like to aspire to beyond this,” she asserted. “People joke about seeing my signature on the dollar bill, and I say who knows? It is not an impossibility.” Right now though, she is focused on the task at hand, determined to serve her country and make her mark in society. “This is a grand time for the banking industry,” she says.  “The next phase we are going into is the integration of supervisory services, which is where I am joining. It is a very exciting time.”