According to Dr. Sheron Lawson, chief executive officer of the Insurance Association of the Caribbean (IAC), the lack of up-to-date, credible information and a number of old laws are retarding the industry in an era of liberalisation of domestic markets and open borders to greater intra- and extra-regional competition.
ﾓOne of the things lacking in the regional insurance industry is credible information, and for managers and leaders to make informed decisions you need credible information. We are looking at accumulating a ﾑdata warehouseﾴ of information that we can disseminate throughout the insurance sector. With the onset of globalisation, trade liberalisation, the CSME, FTAA and so on, we need to be more knowledgeable and more educated,ﾔ she said.
The regional insurance industry is further hobbled by legislative regimes that have not kept pace with changes in the industry putting companies at a distinct disadvantage as they try to remain competitive.
Dr. Lawson said that the necessary legislative changes had to be made.
ﾓIn the Caribbean we have a number of old laws which inhibit progress in the sector, which need to be brought in line with the changing insurance environment. We need to keep abreast of these changes,ﾔ noted Dr. Lawson.
The IAC see attacking the problem through its website, www.iac-caribbean.com, seminars and collaborative efforts with other regional bodies.
ﾠﾓRight now we have basic information on the website, information about our conferences, about the organisation, our historical data, etc., but in the future you will see statistical information, our reports on the insurance sector, our newsletters and so on,ﾔ she pointed out.
According to Dr. Lawson, a knowledgeable workforce is critical to the industry being proactive. ﾓWe have to be more proactive and that calls for a knowledgeable workforce, and so one of our mandates at the IAC is education. We are therefore in the process of organising a number of educational endeavours for the insurance industry.ﾔ
On June 6 to 9 of this year, the IAC will have its 25th annual IAC Caribbean Conference, to be held in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. On March 26 the organisation, in collaboration with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), will be hosting a FTAA Stakeholders Summit in Barbados.
ﾓThe goal of the FTAA Summit is to get all of the players, stakeholders and decision makers in the regional insurance industry to come together and to dialogue about the FTAA, the CSME and to look at our readiness, and to make a position which we hope to bring to the regional governments. We are also teaming up with the CRNM. We have to make sure that they have
The Bahama Journal
