sector has operated within a legislative framework that is outdated. the present legislation covering the credit union movement ( the co - operative society act ) dates back to 1971 and does not deal with prudential issues. the case for stricter regulation of the credit union sector could not be more compelling. credit unions account for more than 5 percent of total financial system assets, and have an extensive service foot print, reaching about one - third of the population. some of the biggest credit unions have assets comparable to that of the smallest banks. a number of credit unions have taken on risky credit exposures and investments, which they do not have the capacity to properly address. we have drafted a credit union bill which was distributed to the sector in november 2011 and are considering comments from the industry prior to finalizing the document. the proposals took into account international standards set by the world council of credit unions and best practices of jurisdictions with well developed credit union sectors. we expect to lay the revised credit union bill in parliament around the middle of 2013. the private pension industry continues to account for a significant proportion of the assets of the financial system. last month, the central bank issued a revised policy proposal document for the establishment of an occupational pension plans bill for further review and comment. the revised document takes into consideration the numerous comments received on previous drafts and incorporates notable revisions to the proposals in key areas such as : • rights of pension plan members and beneficiaries ; • governance of pension plans ; and • winding up of pension plans. we plan to lay the occupational pension plans bill in parliament in the first quarter of 2014. ladies and gentlemen, some financial institutions outside of the banking and insurance sectors can be considered systemically important financial institutions ( sifis ). the size, complexity and inter - linkages with other financial institutions and markets mean that sifis are too important to fail, or ignore. in trinidad and tobago, we have identified three additional sifis – the unit trust corporation ( utc ), the national insurance board ( nib ), and the home mortgage bank ( hmb ). the utc holds more than one - tenth of the assets of the financial system. it is the country ’ s largest mutual funds provider, provides a full range of investment services and competes with not only investment banks, but also – at least according to public perception – with commercial banks. the state - owned national insurance board ( nib ), which is responsible for the national pension system, commands about one -

responsibilities and must see protecting depositors or policy - holders as a major part of their responsibility. • third, external auditors must also be held to account and they must recognize that depositors, creditors and shareholders are looking to them for an independent opinion ; and • fourth, that investors also have a responsibility to understand the trade - off between risk and reward and to remember the old maxim – if it is too good to be true, it probably is. the present economic downturn also carries powerful lessons that we could refuse to learn, to our peril. one compelling lesson is that oil and gas brought us to where we are but that our reserves are by no means limitless and indeed they may be even smaller than we would like to believe. on this basis, we need to move quickly to establish a sustainable fiscal position and accelerate efforts at meaningful diversification. this is indeed a daunting task and would require close collaboration between government and private sector. if the non - energy export sector is our hope to medium - term economic viability, the inescapable consequence is that we would need to significantly increase our productivity levels. our recent intensified emphasis on education and training is a step in the right direction but these needs to be complemented by a much great focus on ict. finally, we need to fully exploit the opportunities offered by small business activity in niche industries. in case you have any doubts, i have tremendous confidence in this economy, in its resilience to overcome the current difficulties and its ability to meet the medium - term challenges that confront us. we like to boast about our native creativity, our enterprising spirit and our ability to overcome hurdles. i happen to believe that all this is true and that when the chips are down we will make the right decisions. however, we have a knack for putting off the difficult decisions for too long. let ’ s hope we don ’ t, this time around. let me again congratulate ansa merchant bank for showing continued faith in the economy of trinidad and tobago. thanks for inviting me.