(Excerpts from presentation on Corporate Governance Implementation in the Financial Sector, made at the X Annual Assembly of the Association of Supervisors of Banks of the Americas, October 10-13, 2007, the Ritz Carlton Golf & Spa Report, Montego Bay, Jamaica)
“Jamaica and Corporate Governance Legislation Here in Jamaica, the costly wide scale meltdown of the financial sector in the 1990’s produced our own spectacular version of Enron a.k.a FINSAC and propelled us towards establishing more effective legislative oversight of the financial sector. It is widely recognised that inadequate corporate governance was a major factor in many of the failures in addition to imprudent investment practices. The legislative framework was not sufficiently robust and as a consequence, Executive Management and Boards of several institutions were less than prudent in how fiduciary duties were executed.
In response, since the mid-1990’s the Government of Jamaica has taken a number of initiatives designed to increase the power and influence of the Bank of Jamaica, BOJ, in its role as supervisor of deposit-taking institutions. Actions include amendments to existing Acts – Banking Act, Financial Institutions Act, Building Societies Act and Cooperative Societies Act, which together form the legal structure for the BOJ to undertake its supervision.”
Honourable William E. Clarke, OJ,CD
President & CEO Scotiabank
