Bridgetown, Barbados – June 2025
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) will soon issue a bulletin and accompanying information circular aimed at clarifying reporting requirements for Barbados-registered insurance companies that underwrite risks outside the country.
This commitment was made by Jonathan Alleyne, Regulatory Manager at the FSC, during the Global Industry Update Virtual Seminar hosted recently by BIBA, the Association for Global Business.
Alleyne acknowledged ongoing concerns raised by the international insurance sector and emphasised the FSC’s intention to provide greater clarity to “avoid unnecessary disruption in the market.”
Focusing on insurers whose premiums originate from jurisdictions outside Barbados, Alleyne said the FSC aims to standardise the reporting framework to ensure consistency, comparability, and alignment with international standards.
“We recognise that based on the feedback, there are a lot of challenges being experienced currently,” he told professionals from a cross sector of the financial services sector attending the annual forum.
To address these concerns, Alleyne announced that such international insurers will be allowed—for a limited time—to submit their reports in the same format used in 2023, specifically their management accounts. This is instead of the newly introduced IFRS 17-based reporting forms previously published on the FSC’s website.
“What this means, of course, is that there will be no quarterly or annual return, but we do recognise that there needs to be some information that we need to retain in-house,” he said. “We need to be able to demonstrate that, for AML purposes, we have a consistent and accurate database of corporate information.”
He noted that one new requirement will be the submission of corporate data not previously collected in a formalised way, such as names of directors and ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) details.
Alleyne explained that the changes were not only for improved internal data management but also to meet expectations from international regulatory and anti-money laundering (AML) watchdogs.
“The FSC is going to put out . . . an information circular detailing this updated information,” he assured attendees. “We know that the reporting deadline is approaching. We know many of you are currently working with audit partners.”