On November 1 of this year, the Board of the Mutual Company gave the go ahead to begin a 12-15 month process of transforming the company from a mutualized company to a corporatized company. The Mutual, which deals mainly in insurance with other financial interests, is a rare, if not unique corporate animal on the Caribbean landscape. It is owned not by partners or shareholding investors but by policy holders. This characteristic was often touted as a key ingredient in the success of the company and its positive public image. But in a world where everything moves faster, even successful businesses have to find more innovative ways of staying ahead of the pack.
Businesses have to be able to tap more of their value and to attract more investors faster.
In a mutual company, you can t raise capital externally and that can be very limiting. With the establishment of three stock markets in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and the impending introduction of the Eastern Caribbean Stock Exchange, the Mutual is flexing itself so that more than just policy holders can get in on the action. Early in November, Board members and managers of the Mutual introduced the St. Lucian media to Andy Gallagher, the actuary who is managing the change in the way of doing business. The first order of business, of course, was assuring Mutual policy holders that all their rights and benefits as policy holders would be maintained as is. Gallagher explained that there will be no change in the rights of policy holders.