Financial Services Commission (FSC) chairman Sir Patterson Cheltenham has served notice that the agency will be enforcing its regulatory mandate “without fear or favour”.
The former Chief Justice, who has been leading the FSC’s Board of Commissioners since March 1, said that, as it celebrates its 15th anniversary, the regulator of the nonbank financial sector will act once it finds breaches of the law.
He was speaking yesterday at Hilton Barbados Resort as the organisation started a week of consultations with representatives from insurance companies, the securities sector, pension funds, and credit unions.
“The FSC is a supervisory authority. We have a statutory mandate. And we will exercise that mandate without fear or favour,” Sir Patterson asserted in an address under theme Building Trust, Shaping the Future.
“Where we find breaches of the law, we will act. Where we find that consumers have been harmed, we will seek redress. Where we find that governance has been compromised, we will intervene. The era of regulatory tolerance for non-compliance is over.”
However, he also made it clear that compliance “is not a burden imposed by regulators on reluctant institutions”.
“Compliance is the baseline standard of operating with integrity in a licensed environment. Meeting your regulatory obligations should be the floor, not the ceiling, of your conduct,” the FSC chairman said.
Sir Patterson also underscored to industry representatives that “regulation exists not to burden industry, but to underpin the conditions under which industry can thrive sustainably”.
Smarter regulation
“Better regulation is not less regulation – it is smarter regulation. It is regulation that is riskbased, proportionate, transparent, and consistently applied. This commission is committed to a regulatory approach that is clear in its expectations, reasonable in its timelines, and firm in its consequences for those who fall short,” he said.
“Regulation without partnership is enforcement without wisdom. We at the FSC understand that the most effective regulation is not adversarial – it is collaborative.
“We are not here to catch you out. We are here to ensure that the financial system works for everyone – for industry, for consumers,
and for the economy of Barbados as a whole,” he added.
Sir Patterson told officials from regulated entities that the FSC “will be honest with you about our expectations. We will consult before we regulate. We will explain our decisions. We will be accessible. And we will be fair”.
“In return, we expect honesty from you. We expect timely and accurate reporting. We expect proactive disclosure of risks and vulnerabilities. We expect your boards and management to take governance seriously – not as a compliance exercise, but as a genuine commitment to sound stewardship,” he stated.
“Over the next 12 months, this commission will be deepening its engagement with each sector through structured consultations. We want to hear from you. We want to understand the challenges you face. And we want to work with you to design a regulatory environment that is fit for purpose in a rapidly changing world.”
FSC chief executive officer Warrick Ward told participants at the session that this week’s consultations “are not just about reform – they are about reinvention”.
“We are here to address both the foundations of our sector – insurance, occupational pensions, credit unions, and securities – and the frontiers reshaping finance: microfinance and virtual assets,” he said.
“We are shifting from a culture of enforcement to one of co-creation. For example, we must ask: How do we empower microfinance to uplift communities while safeguarding against over-indebtedness? How do we harness the potential of virtual assets without compromising our financial integrity?
“These are the heartbeats of a sector striving to serve every citizen, from the village entrepreneur to the most agile fintech innovator.”
(SC)
