Marshall: NIB treading very carefully
Monday July 25 2011 | 03:44 AM

CHAIRMAN Tony Marshall said the National Insurance Board (NIB) has not been making investments outside of Barbados because of the ongoing global economic situation.

He made the comment at a recent function sponsored by the National Insurance Department.

The function involved a tour of the Department by the Minister responsible for Social Security, Dr. Esther Byer-Suckoo, and Members of the NIB were also present.
Marshall explained that the Board pays very strict attention to the investment mix of the portfolio.

“So we charge ourselves with making sure that there is adequate diversification to avoid any possible calamity by too-heavy investment in any one sector,” he noted.

“Given the present circumstances, we have not been investing heavily or at all, outside of Barbados. It would be imprudent for the Board to look to invest heavily outside, but we do keep before us the fact that we must diversify our portfolio.”

The Chairman maintained that if one looked at where the invested are, it would be shown that they are spread across the country.

According to him, “we also have investments in the CARICOM region.”

At the same function, the Director of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) Ian Carrington said that they seek to invest all the monies that are not expended in relation to either administrative expense or benefit payments.

Carrington revealed that, at the end of May this year, the National Insurance Fund reserves were $3.4 billion. The overall amount of reserves under management, inclusive of National Insurance Fund, Unemployment, Severance and Catastrophe funds, was $3.7 billion.

“We seek not to have a situation where we have money sitting on a bank account that is earning no money. In terms of the proportion that we can invest, the law essentially allows the National Insurance Board the latitude of investing all of that money,” he said.

However, he remarked that the NIB would have put in place an investment policy guideline which essentially “guides how that money is invested.”

The Director further stated that they “take into consideration not only the returns to be derived but also the risks that we are being faced.”

Carrington added that the NIB has had no exposure in relation to CLICO.