Idiot regulators, Trinidad and Tobago Edition.
Speech by Ewart Williams, covers the Clico/CIB crisis, a pioneer and a path-breaker on the financial scene in Trinidad and Tobago, operating with rather light capital…
Our insurance legislation dates back to 1980 and is very archaic.
By way of example:
CLICO, with assets in excess of over $24 billion, only requires capital of $3 million [1]. This compares for example with banks which must have capital equivalent to a minimum of 8 per cent of its assets. Thus, a bank of CLICO’s asset size would have at least $2.0 billion of capital; regulatory capital requirements for the insurance industry is only now being developed.
Note:[1] this is what I call real leverage: 8000/1