Global Insurance Experts Gather in Barbados Monday
Barbados – The second annual Barbados Risk & Insurance Management (BRIM) Conference, produced by BIBA, the Association for Global Business in Barbados, opens on the island on Monday.
Carmel Haynes, Executive Director, BIBA, the Association for Global BusinessBilled as a must-attend event on the global executive conference calendar, the two-day, in-person and virtually-streamed meeting will highlight “the enormous value of Barbados’ expanding captive insurance industry, the potential for further growth, emerging insurance risks, key economic and regulatory developments and digital advancements in insurance,” explained Carmel Haynes, BIBA’s Executive Director.
The summit, to be held at Hilton Barbados Resort, has attracted scores of delegates from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Caribbean, who will gather to explore a variety of captive insurance management issues.
The first day will feature a keynote address from Oliver Jordan, the new chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Barbados’ supraregulatory agency for the insurance sector, mutual funds, securities, pension funds and the credit union sector. Tuesday’s keynote speaker will be Daniel Towle, President of the Captive Insurance Companies Association and former Director of Financial Services for the State of Vermont in the United States, one of the world’s premier jurisdictions for captives and other international insurance structures.
Reya Ali-Dabydeen, Partner and Banking & Insurance Sector Tax Lead for Ernst & Young in Canada, will lead discussions on tax developments impacting captives while also reviewing the most recent Canadian federal budget and its implications for global business in Barbados. Geneva-based Niel Harper, an international cybersecurity expert, will share his knowledge and experience about mitigating the impact of cyber risks and ransomware attacks.
Technology and the digital revolution’s impact on the insurance industry will also be spotlighted by New Zealand-based Klaas Stijnen, Co-CEO and Founder of global software company Montoux; while Robert Panza of CFC Underwriting in the United Kingdom will explore how the expansion of digital health care is changing traditional approaches to underwriting.
Jorge Carstensen, Managing Partner of Sophós Advisors, an independent advisory firm specializing in risk management and international insurance, will examine developments in Latin America; while Cyralene Benskin-Murray, General Counsel for Barbados’ FSC, will provide insight into the regulation of the Barbados insurance sector.
Kevin Hunte, Director of International Business in Barbados’ Ministry of Energy and Business Development, and Graeme Stoute, Acting International Tax Manager in the Global Relations Unit of the Barbados Revenue Authority’s Tax Audit and Compliance Division, will offer a tax and regulatory update focused on Country-by-Country Reporting, Economic Substance and the impending Global Minimum Corporate Tax. Charles van Oppen, co-owner and director of London-based risk management consultancy TBIAS, will look at how regulatory compliance can be a trigger to improve business resilience and efficiency.
Global and regional experts will also address issues such as ESG (environmental, social and governance factors) in business decision-making; changing risk-return dynamics of investing for captives; captive fundamentals in business planning; how the basics are changing when comparing past captive structures with today’s; the evolving business of pensions; and implementation of IFRS 17.
BRIM 2022 has secured the sponsorship of major players in the financial services sector, including RBC Dominion Securities Global Limited; USA Risk Group, Inc.; London & Capital; Strategic Risk Solutions; Clarity Life Insurance; Invest Barbados; Summit Asset Management; CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank; Sagicor Life Inc; Integrity Managers; C&W Business; PwC; DGM Captive Management Inc; and Darktrace.
