by Linda Straker
- Insurance allows for persons to bounce back quickly after storms of life
- Activities include educational sessions, symposiums and workshops with small business entrepreneurs
“Plan for Uncertainty… Make Insurance a priority,” is the theme for the 18th observance of October as Financial Information Month (FIM), which is a project of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).
“I welcome this particular focus,” said Governor Timothy Antoine while he delivered remarks during the regional launch of the month which was held at Maltin Moving Conference Centre, ECCB Headquarters, St Kitts and Nevis with video-conference transmission to ECCB Agency Office, Grenada on Monday, 30 September 2019.
Governor Antoine said that insurance allows for persons to bounce back quickly after the storms of life which can include cyberattacks, natural hazards such as hurricanes and earthquakes as well as personal challenges.
The activities during the month will focus on the sub-themes of
- Insurance as a vehicle for investment
- Asset management
- Planning for retirement and transfer of wealth
- Financial Knowledge…your tool for helping to protect everyone and everything you care about Insurance facts vs myths, and
- The role of financial institutions in promoting and sustaining economic growth in an environment vulnerable to external shocks.
During the launch Breton Hilaire, who is employed with an insurance company in Dominica, said that proactive measures like having insurance policies is removing the risk against an individual to a company. “Insurance is the transferring of risk from one’s self to the insurance,” he said, urging that each individual should consider having an insurance policy focusing on some form of coverage.
Throughout the month there will be a number of activities in each of the ECCB territories and these will include educational sessions both on radio and television as well as symposiums and workshops with small business entrepreneurs.
Financial Information Month (FIM) is a regional financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial education campaign executed in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) since 2002, through the collaborative efforts of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), ECCB member governments, financial and academic institutions, the media, other private and public sector institutions and community-based groups.
The month forms part of an ECCU financial and economic education programme coordinated by the ECCB. The programme incorporates a series of initiatives designed to support the attainment of the goal of “a financially developed and vibrant ECCU region that fosters strong and sustainable economic growth and the improved well-being of the citizenry.”