Pension fund supervisors must do their best to educate individuals about the dangers of investing in fraudulent, get-rich-quick schemes, says Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn.
He also wants them to utilise social media more to combat misinformation.
“The people of this region rely on all of us collectively to manage and regulate their pension funds such that when they retire, there’s adequate provision there. This is an awesome task which requires substantive work, collectively, and aggressive communication.
“The more that we can get into our communities across the region right when people are making those decisions about the blessing circles and all of these other things that people are promising fantastic rates of returns in three days and four days, you need as regulators to be able to explain to people why investing in their future long-term is more important than the promise of a short-term return,” Straughn said.
He was delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the Caribbean Association of Pension Supervisors (CAPS) 2025 conference and annual general meeting at Hilton Barbados Resort yesterday.
In recent years, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, some Barbadians have invested in pyramid schemes, such as blessing circles. These schemes promise high returns for a relatively small initial investment.
While acknowledging that many people were targeted to join these schemes on digital and social media sites, Straughn underscored the importance of using those platforms for good.
“In this world with misinformation, the speed at which people are able to share things that are quite fraudulent . . . . Do not allow social media and the propagation of misinformation to deter you from getting to know the people and the people getting to know you.
“Use the tools to get past the noise. But at the end of it, people must know that the supervisors are there to stand in the breach to ensure that ordinary people across this Caribbean can look forward to a future that is as secure and as great as possible,” he added.
He stressed that protecting people’s investments was critical, especially considering that Barbados has an ageing population and the prevalence of non-communicable diseases.
The minister cited a project which predicts that by 2050, almost half of Barbados’ population will be over the age of 65.
“If you think about that purely from a pension perspective, that is very scary because it means that you don’t have enough people working and contributing as people are gracefully ageing, and I hope living longer and living well. However, all of us in this room know very clearly that the impact of non-communicative diseases is contributing significantly to the actual cost of living,” he said.
Straughn urged the pension supervisors to work together as collaboration could help strengthen their economies and ensure more is invested within the region.
“We are sending too much money abroad helping to build infrastructure in other people’s countries and then we are saying in the region that we don’t have enough resources to address the problems that continue to face us.
Build our economies
“Part of the solution is, how do we come together as regulators to create a common framework for investing in our region? I’m talking about genuine investments more broadly because once pension funds are the largest investor class in this region, we now must make sure that we have a very clear framework for how we can unlock those resources to help build our economies such that our young people will be encouraged to have a few more children, such that our businesses will see the benefits of being able to provide more balanced family arrangements in terms of paternity and maternity and those types of things which are critical,” he added.
Many Faces Of Risk is the theme of the two-day conference being attended by pension regulators from 20 Caribbean nations and territories.
Officials, including president of CAPS Nicolette Jenez, and chief executive officer of Barbados’ Financial Services Commission Warrick Ward spoke during the opening.
Ward explained why they were utilising artificial intelligence (AI).
“Our host this evening is an AI tool which we decided to use to help augment our presentation here today. We want to look at these types of resources and use them most efficiently and most effectively. We want to show the rest of the region that it is a very important tool and an important work that we are doing with regards to pensions and pensions regulation,” he said.
Jenez highlighted the importance of the theme and why the sector had to evolve.
“It invites us to look more deeply beneath the surface of traditional, actuarial and natural risk, and to explore the evolving landscape that pension regulators must now navigate.
“In an era of profound global uncertainty, the risks confronting pension systems have multiplied in scope, scale and complexity. Climate shocks, cyber attacks, shifts in employment and demographics, technological disruptions sparked by artificial intelligence, geopolitical instability, the rise of digital assets. Our traditional models were not designed for this degree of volatility. The risk landscape has changed, but we must evolve with it,” she said.
Topics such as emerging risks, cyber risks, mortality trends, financial assets, fund options and AI will be examined. (TG)
