CGI’s Harris: It’s fair play

INSURANCE CORPORATION OF BARBADOS LIMITED (ICBL) is no longer owned by Government and should not be entitled to state business.So says general manager of Consumers’ Guarantee Insurance (CGI) Peter Harris, following recent revelations from a senior ICBL official that his company had lost the National Housing Corporation (NHC) contract to CGI.Describing the NHC contract as an “excellent account”, the ICBL official said that his company had kept NHC covered “in the best and worst of times”. But suggesting ICBL had no reason to complain, Harris said more than 75 per cent of that company was owned by Bermuda Fire and General and the local insurer should be made to compete with other players in the market for business.“We are all taxpayers and we all should have the right to quote our interests. Our taxes go towards paying insurance premiums to ICBL and there is no reason why we cannot compete for that business like anybody else,” he said.Harris also took exception with recent comments by Deputy Opposition Leader Dale Marshall who questioned why Government had reassigned the insurance for Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation from ICBL to CLICO; as well as Barbados Conferences Services from ICBL to Trident Insurance.Marshall also alleged that ICBL had lost the insurance business for the Grantley Adams International Airport and the Bridgetown Port.But Harris said it was all about finding the most competitive business.“For all these years ICBL did not deal with insurance brokers and now that it is no longer Government-owned, many of the state enterprises that have boards have asked for brokers to intervene and to have their insurance reviewed and to scout the market and get the most competitive rates. “Many of the insurance premiums that ICBL has been quoting for the last 30 to 40 years have been reviewed and brought down, while ICBL has remained as the majority insurer of most of the state risks.  “The premiums that the state enterprises pay have been reduced substantially,” he said.Harris indicated that in many instances insurers shared risk.“Fifty per cent of the insurance of the National Housing Corporation building was placed with Guardian General, 20 per cent was placed with Sagicor and 30 per cent with CGI. CGI is not the 100 per cent insurer of the NHC building. It is shared among three insurance companies and the rate was at least 20 per cent cheaper than the previous year with ICBL,” Harris said.Contrary to comments made by Marshall, Harris said the majority insurance at the airport and seaport still remained with ICBL. He said his company and Trident were minority insurers, but ICBL held the largest portion of business at Grantley Adams International Airport.At the port, he said ICBL controlled 100 per cent insurance for wet business such as heavy equipment, tugs, crane and the like. He added that about 20 per cent of the dry business such as the Port Authority building was with his company, while 80 per cent remained with ICBL.“So ICBL is still the majority insurer of both the seaport and airport,” he stressed.The top insurance executive said the use of brokers to scout the best prices was something done all over the world and they had not done a disservice to Barbados. “They have actually done a world of good by making ICBL compete for their business and making them produce rates that are competitive,” he said.