PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Four main objectives were identified at the end of a meeting of CARICOM Finance Ministers and Financial Services Sector Regulators as they sought to resolve difficulties arising in the Region’s insurance and banking sectors.
At the Meeting held on Monday, May 25 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, under the chairmanship of Dr the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of St Vincent and the Grenadines, it was agreed that there must be a regional solution to the problems caused by the financial meltdown of the CLICO Financial and the British American Insurance Company (BAICO).
The Ministers and Regulators also identified the protection of policy and share holders, the need to ensure that the companies remained as going concerns and for urgent action to be taken to prevent a systemic crisis as the other key objectives. The meeting received updates on the latest positions with respect to CLICO Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago as well as BAICO.
A proposal tabled by St Vincent and the Grenadines with respect to the re-organisation of BAICO was accepted in principle. Further discussion on this proposal by a team led by Prime Minister Gonsalves and comprising representatives of the countries affected by the BAICO failure will be held on June 5, 2009 in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The College of Regulators will be meeting in Guyana on June 9, 2009.
