Fitness and Propriety Guidance

At a Caribbean Association of Insurance Regulators (“CAIR”) conference in 2015, the issue of assessing the fitness and propriety (“F&P”) of individuals performing or proposing to perform a key function or senior officer role, within the insurance sector and across the Region, was raised. The discussion came about in relation to whether a former senior officer or key individual of a failed insurance company would qualify to be fit and proper at another insurance company in a different country.

The discussion highlighted some inconsistencies in practice across jurisdictions both in legislation and in application of process which lead to the broad question as to whether regional regulators should develop a standard which could apply across the board as many companies operate in several of our jurisdictions and we run the risk of an officer being fit in one territory but deemed not fit in another.

A CAIR F&P Technical Working Group was set up in 2016, and tasked with developing a fitness and propriety guide for key directors/officers for all CAIR members to uphold. The Working Group made some progress in comparing the F&P Questionnaires and legislation used in assessing fitness and propriety by the various regulatory bodies within the Caribbean region, but was unable to produce a final guide. The F&P Technical Working Group was reconstituted in late 2017 with members from Cayman Islands, Guyana, Jamaica and Bahamas. The newly reconstituted Working Group has been tasked with producing guidance on fitness and propriety that can be consistently used amongst CAIR members.