The same accountability Government is seeking for private enterprises through the Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill, 2026 should be applied to the National Insurance and Social Security Service (NISSS), which has billions of dollars from Barbadians, says Opposition Senator Ryan Walters.
He found support in this from Independent Senator Andrew Mallalieu, who stated that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, in relation to regulations governing private and public sector investment entities.
Walters said yesterday’s debate in the Senate centred on regulation, supervision, transparency and accountability in relation to virtual assets, but there was a much bigger question that could not be ignored in relation to the NISSS.
Must report
“The Government is prepared to tell private financial institutions what they must report, how they must safeguard customers’ assets, what information they must disclose and the standards of governance to which they must comply. But what about the National Insurance and Social Security Service? The institution holds billions of dollars belonging ultimately to our businesses and our workers in this country,” he said.
Walters pointed out that the contributions were not optional as every month, employees and employers were legally required to put their money into the system, but an ordinary Barbadian going to the website to find out how that money is performing found “remarkably limited” information.
“So the question is, why should a person who voluntarily puts $10 000 into a private investment fund have access to more timely information about the performance of those funds, compared to a worker who is compulsorily contributing to National Insurance for 20, 30 or even 40 years? . . . . This is no small fund.
“The IMF [International Monetary Fund] reported that dividends in National Insurance could be around $4 billion at June 2024,” he told the Upper Chamber.
At the point he referenced the 2018-2019 debt restructuring of around $1.3 billion at the agency, President of the Senate The Most Honourable Reginald Farley reminded Walters that while there would be times and places for the full dissection of the NISSS, the present debate was not that place.
Virtual assets
Walters later said the Bill was about creating extensive regulatory architecture to protect Barbadians who chose to invest their money in virtual assets.
“Surely, we should have the same energy and we should be demanding similar for those who are compulsorily putting their money in investments, which is managed by an entity called the National Insurance Scheme . . . . It is critical because there is a lot of moving parts within that social system,” he said.
Mallalieu, speaking right after Walters, said he agreed that when there was legislation passed which held the private sector accountable for many things, “we should also be holding the Government sector to that same standard”.
“I completely agree with you and I think that the senator was actually meaning to join with me in calling for the proclamation of the Integrity Of Public Life legislation as an example,” he said
of the Bill. Meanwhile, Mallalieu said he did not know if it was intentional, but in the schedule in Section 2.1, there was a new definition on the threshold for a beneficial owner and the 20 per cent threshold had been removed.
“Whereas in the previous Act, before this was removed, there was a specific percentage that would help you to define if someone was acting or could exert control. In this particular one, in this section on Page 40 of it, it removes that. Now it only defines it as someone who ultimately owns or controls the legal person.
“And in a pure application of that, that means all owners now are covered. So even if you own one per cent or 0.1 per cent, you are now covered under this. That is a substantial change in my reading to how beneficial owners previously acted,” he said. ( AC)