Despite its small geographic footprint, Barbados continues to exert an outsized influence on global insurance and risk management thinking, according to Marlon Yarde, President of BIBA, the Association for Global Business.
Yarde was speaking at the launch of the Barbados Risk & Insurance Management Conference 2026 (BRIM 2026), which is scheduled for March 26 and 27 at the Wyndham Grand Barbados Sam Lord’s Castle. The two-day conference is already generating strong international interest, with delegates and speakers registering from as far away as Hong Kong and Europe.
He said the conference is taking place at a time when the “global risk landscape is shifting in real time” as a result of geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty, rapid technological change and increasing climate volatility.
“In this environment, insurance and risk management are no longer back-office functions,” the BIBA president cautioned, noting that they are “central to national resilience, business competitiveness, and investor confidence.”
Addressing a cross-section of media, sponsors and BIBA executives at the launch event held at Pelican House on Princess Alice Highway, Bridgetown, on February 24, Yarde, who is also Managing Director of the Barbados Stock Exchange, said Barbados was no longer a passive observer of global developments but was instead “actively shaping how small, forward-looking jurisdictions respond.”
At the same time, he underscored the need to remain alert to the rapid evolution of global reinsurance markets, noting that intensifying competition, shifting terms and persistent catastrophe losses continue to influence pricing and capacity.
Against this backdrop, Yarde said Caribbean jurisdictions must grapple with fundamental questions around what circumstances could render the region uninsurable and how risk transfer mechanisms could remain both accessible and sustainable.
“BRIM 2026 will tackle these questions directly, while also exploring a distinctly Caribbean reality – the difference between predictable and unpredictable risk – and what that means for preparedness, long-term planning, and strategic resilience.
“But risk alone is not the story. Regulation, solvency frameworks, and governance are increasingly defining market credibility,” Yarde stressed.
He added that globally, regulators and standard-setters were “strengthening expectation around capital adequacy, risk management, data governance, and emerging technologies.”
Now in its sixth year, the BRIM Conference has grown into one of the region’s largest and most influential sectoral symposiums, drawing speakers, delegates and industry observers from across the globe.
This was confirmed by Carmel Haynes, Executive Director of BIBA, who revealed that with almost three weeks remaining before the event, nearly 150 delegates had already registered for the two-day conference. She noted that this figure excluded confirmed speakers and BIBA’s expanding roster of sponsors.
She added that delegates will also benefit from side events, including a pre-conference golf tournament at the Barbados Golf Club on March 25.
“We’re definitely seeing interest. And more importantly, we’re seeing that interest globally,” Haynes remarked, adding, “This year, we’ve got a couple of speakers coming from Hong Kong. Then there are the usual markets from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.”
She said the strong international turnout, alongside regional participation from competitor jurisdictions such as Bermuda, a team of regulators from The Bahamas, and delegates from Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, reflected both the growing appeal of BRIM and the depth and relevance of its discussion topics.
