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CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS

As Chairman, I am both privileged and proud to introduce FINSAC’s Annual Report for the fiscal year 1999/2000. It has been a year of impressive achievements.

When FINSAC was formed at the end of 1996, its fundamental challenge was formidable. Simply stated, our mandate was to stabilise Jamaica’s rapidly crumbling financial sector and to re-establish domestic and international confidence in our financial institutions and their whole regulatory framework. A mere three and a half years later, I believe we can surely say that this seemingly daunting challenge is being successfully met. FINSAC has entered a new phase in which it is progressively winding down its activities with the conviction that the light at the end of what was a dark tunnel, is getting brighter.

Our banking and insurance sectors have been rationalised and placed on firm foundations, and a culture of responsibility has been re-established in our financial institutions. We have recovered from the mistakes of the past and applied the lessons learned, with the result that the past twelve months have seen investor confidence growing stronger and international confidence in Jamaica at a new high level. We are working closely in concert with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank, and all the feedback on FINSAC’s activities that we receive from these respected organisations is positive.

These co-operative efforts are all designed to ensure that the legacy of FINSAC will be sustainable. Equally important, FINSAC has come a long way during the past year towards winning the hearts and minds of the Jamaican public. The press no longer attacks our activities on a daily basis, and the national tendency of ordinary Jamaicans to pour scorn on big institutions has largely abated.The credit for this significant domestic and international turnaround in confidence in our financial sector, is due in no small measure to the outstanding work done by FINSAC’s staff under the dedicated leadership of Managing Director, Patrick Hylton.

I would, therefore, like my final remark here to be one of tribute to the commitment of each and every member of the FINSAC team. Commitment to any organisation is laudable and not easily achieved. Commitment to FINSAC, which was always conceived as a temporary body, deserves very special recognition.

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