ewart s williams : the importance of adequate capitalisation in the insurance industry remarks by mr ewart s williams, governor of the central bank of trinidad and tobago, at the signing agreement between guardian holdings limited and international finance corporation, port - of - spain, 1 december 2010. * * * i wish to congratulate guardian holdings limited on the consummation of this very significant relationship with the ifc. this new partnership should not only strengthen ghl ’ s balance sheet, but should redound to the benefit of the public by increasing the availability of insurance products to markets that are not currently well - served and in this list, i include, small businesses, micro - finance institutions and agribusinesses. over the past several months the insurance industry has been overrun by a chorus of bad news involving institutions in which the central bank has intervened. unfortunately, even with its potential for contagion, the current turmoil obscures an insurance industry with tremendous strengths and resilience. the subsidiaries of the guardian holdings group are an integral part of this structurally strong and resilient insurance sector. since its establishment in june 1996, the guardian holdings group has blossomed into an integrated financial services entity, covering life, health, property and casualty insurance, pensions and asset management. ghl has spread its wings throughout the english and dutch caribbean and is now listed on both the trinidad and tobago and jamaican stock exchanges. guardian life, the flagship company of the group is a major player in the life insurance sector accounting for 38 per cent of the market ’ s contract liabilities. guardian general has become the region ’ s largest indigenous property and casualty insurance company. as the largest general insurance company in trinidad and tobago, guardian general holds 26 per cent of market share and 21 per cent of total assets of the sector. among the many best - practices adopted by ghl is the annual review by a. m. best to assess the financial strength of its insurance subsidiaries and to ensure that the companies are in a position to meet their obligations to policyholders. in june 2010, a. m. best gave a rating of a – ( excellent ) for the financial strength of both guardian life and guardian general. according to best, the excellent rating reflected ghl ’ s improved balance sheet, the decline in total debt and lower intangibles following the write - off of goodwill related to its european property and casualty operations, and its adequate level of risk adjusted capitalization. in the case of ggil,

jwala rambarran : from diagnosis to action – advancing the caribbean reform agenda statement by mr jwala rambarran, governor of the central bank of trinidad and tobago, at the 2013 caribbean breakfast with the imf managing director, ms christine lagarde, port of spain, 13 october 2013. * * * salutations : the honorable denzil douglas, prime minister of st. kitts & nevis the honorable keith mitchell, prime minister of grenada madame christine lagarde, managing director, imf on behalf of the caribbean group of countries at the imf, trinidad and tobago is deeply privileged and honored to have the opportunity to deliver the opening remarks at the 2013 breakfast meeting with the imf managing director. madame lagarde, we thank you for taking the time to continue the dialogue on matters of interest to caribbean nations – a small but very important segment of the fund ’ s membership. i assure you that we highly value this forum. it is indeed a unique opportunity for the caribbean to have open, frank and sincere dialogue with the leadership of the fund. heightened engagement we are encouraged by the increasing level of engagement taking place between the fund and caribbean small states, especially over the past year. the fund has organized two high - level caribbean forums – the first in trinidad and tobago in september 2012 and the second, more recently, last month in the bahamas. a seminal paper entitled “ caribbean small states : challenges of high debt and low growth ” were among the papers on small states prepared by imf staff and presented to the executive board in march of this year. these were useful starting points for analysis, research and discussion on the challenges facing small states, particularly those in the caribbean. we stress the importance of not losing traction on these issues by following through with the directives of the board. we look forward to the promised consultation with caribbean authorities on the small states paper and to the presentation of the guidance note on conducting surveillance in small states, which is scheduled for december 2013. technical assistance we continue to be well - served by high - quality technical assistance, mainly through cartac, in the areas of macroeconomic analysis, debt management and public financial management. in particular, we appreciate the fund ’ s willingness and flexibility to conduct the study on regional financial interconnectedness, which is almost similar to conducting a caribbeanwide financial sector assessment program ( fsap ). the policy recommendations from such a study would be very useful to strengthening financial stability across the region and enhancing