RSA (Antilles) is a major provider of General Insurance products and services in the Dutch Caribbean, and is jointly owned by the RSA Group, one of the world’s leading multinational listed insurance groups with major operations in the UK, Scandinavia, Canada, Ireland, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Latin America, and MCB, the largest commercial bank in the Dutch Caribbean.

According to Fatum’s President & Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Steven Martin, “The acquisition of RSA Antilles further strengthens and endorses Fatum’s position as the leading provider of General Insurance products and services in the Dutch Caribbean, which is key to the strategic objectives of Fatum. This acquisition will consolidate our position as the leading company in the general insurance sector, a position with which we are very comfortable.”

Fatum is fully owned by Guardian Holdings Limited (GHL), the largest Financial Services and Insurance Group serving the English & Dutch Caribbean. In addition to Fatum, GHL also owns Guardian General Insurance Company Limited (GGIL), which itself is the largest indigenous general insurance company serving the English Caribbean. According to GHL Group Chief Executive Officer, MM. Jeffrey Mack “with the addition of RSA Antilles to our general insurance portfolio, and the acquisition last month of Globe Insurance Company in Jamaica, GHL now has an unassailable market leadership position in the general insurance sectors across all of our core markets, fulfilling our strategic objective and demonstrating our confidence and commitment to the people and economies of the Caribbean”.

The affirmation of the ratings of GLOC and GGIL reflect GHL’s stable leverage position and consolidated balance sheet strength, favorable operating results and premium growth for the past several years. The consistent profitability of both GLOC and GGIL, which are core insurance subsidiaries of GHL, enhances the overall strength of GHL’s balance sheet, debt servicing capabilities and consolidated total equity. NevertheleAM A.M. Best notes that the outstanding level of financial leverage at GHL remains somewhat high relative to its total equity. GHL’s exposure in Jamaica through its life insurance subsidiary, although smaller than in prior years, remains an ongoing concern.

The ratings of GLOC acknowledge its strategic position within the GHL group, strong competitive advantage in the Trinidad and Tobago markets, consistently positive gains from operations at both life and pension and health insurance lines and its adequate level of risk-adjusted capitalization.
Offsetting these strengths are GLOC’s moderately increased insurance benefits and claims expenses, the impact of continuing volatility in the local, regional and global equity markets and the competitive and mature nature of the Trinidad and Tobago insurance marketplace.

Key rating factors that could result in positive rating actions for GLOC include near-term reduced exposure to high risk markets, significant reduction in leverage at the holding company level and an expansion of the traditional life segment in GLOC’s business mix. Key rating factors that could result in negative rating actions include increased Jamaican exposure coupled with heightened sovereign risk, higher leverage at the holding company level, spread compression as well as deterioration in the credit quality of its asset portfolio.

The ratings of GGIL recognize its leading regional market presence, historically profitable operating performance, adequate capitalization and the support and commitment of GHL. GGIL is the largest property/casualty writer in the Caribbean with a major presence in Trinidad and Tobago and several other markets in the region.

Partially offsetting these strengths is the increased frequency of catastrophic events in the region, the company’s reliance on reinsurance to protect its earnings and surplus and the increasingly competitive regional markets in which GGIL operates.

Positive rating actions could occur if GGIL sustains its strong operating performance and capitalization in combination with an upgrading of the Trinidad’s country risk rating. Negative rating actions could occur if either GGIL’s operating performance or risk-adjusted capitalization is negatively affected beyond A.M Best’s expectations.

The methodology used in determining these ratings is Best’s Credit Rating Methodology, which provides a comprehensive explanation of A.M. Best’s rating process and contains the different rating criteria employed in the rating process. Additional key criteria utilized include: “Evaluating Country Risk”; “Rating Members of Insurance Groups”; “Risk Management and the Rating Process for Insurance Companies”; “Understanding BCAR for Property/Casualty Insurers”; and “Understanding BCAR for Life/Health Insurers.” Best’s Credit Rating Methodology can be found at www.ambest.com/ratings/methodology.

Guardian has partnered with AKADREM, Inc., a USA-based boutique consulting firm specializing in strategic communications, to revamp its Group marketing communications strategies and practices. This ongoing partnership resulted in two Platinum MarCom Awards for 2011, one for the Guardian General Insurance Ltd. “Crisis Communication Plan” and one for the Guardian Holdings Ltd. “Internal Communications Audit”. The Platinum Award is one of the most prestigious in the international communications industry, constitutes the highest distinction of this particular competition, and is awarded to those entries that are judged to be the most outstanding.

Jeff Mack, Le PDG du groupe, stated: “We are delighted that our work in revamping our Group marketing communications is recognized internationally. This is part of our stride to come closer to our customers and build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with them. We have a newly defined mission, which is to operate as one integrated, customer-centric company; a company, which sees the world through its customer’s eyes and delivers its brand promise consistently at every touch point. We are prepared to redefine and reshape the way in which we communicate with our customers and other stakeholders to achieve that“.

Judges in the MarCom competition are industry professionals, who look for companies and individuals, whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry. Winners were selected from over 200 categories in seven forms of media and communication efforts- marketing, publications, marketing/promotion, public service/pro bono, creativity and electronic/interactive. Out of the 6,000 entries this year, about 18% won the Platinum Award, the organization’s top honor.

Other Platinum Award recipients include Bloomberg, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Booz Allen Hamilton,Fidelity Investments, HBO, Hilton Hotel and Resorts, J.P. Morgan Retirement Services, Johns Hopkins University, Jones Lang LaSalle, Siemens Healthcare, St Jude Medical, Toyota Motor Sales USA, United States Air Force, UnitedHealthCare, Weber Shandwick, Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust; and Yellow Pages Group. A complete list of Platinum Winners can be found on the MarCom Awards website at www.marcomawards.com

Photo shows GHLs Group CEO Jeffrey Mack receiving the trophy from Robin Levy, Deputy General Manager - Bourse de la Jamaïque. Also included is President of Guardian Life Limited, Eric Hosin.

Port of Spain, Tuesday, 20 December 2011. The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) gave the nod to Guardian Holdings Limited for having a website that stood apart from other listed companies, providing best practice in the quality and efficiency of dissemination of information to the investing public.

This announcement came at the JSEs annual award ceremony for its member dealers, held earlier this month, under the distinguished patronage of Jamaica’s Governor General, Sir Patrick Allen. The awards, which are in their 7th annual instalment, promote best practice standards within the financial services industry in the region.

According to Group Vice President Corporate Communications, Rivas Maria-McMillan, “The Group Communications team has worked very hard to bring its website, www.guardianholdings.com, up to international best practice. It covers news updates, from GHL and its member companies, company information and a user friendly investor information category. The company was also an early adopter of social media, access to which is available from the website”.

The awards are selected based on guidance from a panel of judges comprising members of the JSE as well as private and public sector financial specialists and headed by Chairman Professor Neville Ying, Executive Director of the Jamaica Diaspora Institute. The main categories include Best Annual Report, Website, Corporate Disclosure, Best Performing Company, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) /JSE Award for Corporate Governance and the coveted Governor General Award for Excellence given to the overall winner.

Maria Rivas Mc Millan

Maria Rivas Mc MillanTo diriger une entreprise prospère et éthiques d'aujourd'hui, one must think in terms of the three P’s – Profit, Planet and People. This little nugget was just one of many presented at CSR & Government: Bystander, Follower, Leader, the theme of the Trinidad & Tobago Chamber and Industry and Commerce event I attended in October. The event captured the attention of three Ministers in the Ministries of Trade; Housing and the Environment; as well as The People and Social Development, who presented their positions on the topic. Indeed, if you look closely at the ministerial portfolios represented at the session, they do reflect the Trinidad & Tobago government’s triple bottom line.

In reviewing the stories covered in this issue of the Guardian Way, I couldn’t help but reflect on the three ‘P’s’ in relation to Guardian and how much we are moving in the right direction. There’s the Profit element of course. Guardian has so many stakeholders, anxious to see the numbers reflected in the black at the end of each quarter. Late hours, constant regeneration of ideals and sometimes sleepless nights go into making this happen, every time. It’s a team effort, at every level. Naturally when international recognition comes, we feel free to crow a bit about it. See pages 4-6.

The Group is also well known for its advocacy of the conservation and preservation cause – protection of our Planet. This stance even won us a Sustainability Award in 2009 from the Energy Chamber of Trinidad & Tobago. We live in the main, on islands, washed by the beautiful and much admired Caribbean Sea which, at the same time, makes us immensely vulnerable to the annual temper tantrums that we call the Hurricane Season. According to a recent ECLAC report, ‘The Economics of Climate Change in the Caribbean’, climate change is estimated to cost the Caribbean sub-region countries up to 5% of annual GDP by 2050 if adaptive or mitigating actions are not pursued.

Hirohito Toda, Officer-in-Chard of the ECLAC Sub-regional Headquarters for the Caribbean stated that, owing to the geographic characteristics and small economic size of the countries of the Caribbean, the region will be among the first to be affected. “Since more than half of the population lives near the coast, increase in temperature, change in precipitation and rise in sea level due to human activities will not only lead to loss of land but to lowered prospects for economic growth as well as quality of life for its people,” he said. Pages 14-15 look at the effects of climate change on the vulnerable small island states of the Caribbean. On pages 17-21, we look at Guardian’s environmental thrust that takes form internally (project Green) as much as it does externally. The key focus in all that we seek to do is Sustainability with a capital ‘S’.

Then – Les gens. People are why we exist in the first place. This insurance group, spanning two centuries, has only continued to thrive because of the deeply embedded roots that connect us to the warm earthiness of the Caribbean. We understand and continue to respond to the changing needs of generations of people and devise mechanisms for fulfilling those needs. The voices of Team Guardian can be heard throughout this magazine but especially on pages 26-28.
Alors, there we are – an insurance group that is uniquely itself. Connected – though divided by the Caribbean waters, language and idiom – by a similar history; looking boldly, confidently forward and upwards to meet the challenges and the achievements of the 21st centuries.

Rivas Maria-McMillan
Editor in Chief

Standing: L-R Darryl White - Regional Vice President, Corporate Banking RBC Merchant Bank (Caribbean), Brent Ford, Group Chief Investment Officer/Group President Asset Management Guardian Holdings Ltd., Nigel Ferguson, Vice-président, Corporate Banking RBC Merchant Bank (Caribbean). Sitting: L-R Steven Martina, President and Chief Executive Officer Fatum Holdings N.V., Bruce Sim - Head, Capital Markets and Wealth Management RBC Merchant Bank (Caribbean), Jeffrey Mack, Le PDG du groupe, Guardian Holdings Ltd., and Robert de Silva, President and Country Head RBTT Bank N.V. Curaçao and Bonaire.

Port of Spain, Novembre 8, 2011: Fatum, a member of the Guardian Holdings Group and RBC Merchant Bank signed a landmark transaction wherein RBC Merchant Bank (Caribbean) has arranged a 5-year floating rate note issue valued at US$50 million on behalf of Fatum Holding N.V. This is the first floating rate issue arranged in the Dutch Caribbean by RBC and it also marks the first capital market transaction for Fatum Holding N.V. The investor base in this transaction comprises institutional investors in Curaçao and throughout the Caribbean.

Sort, established since 1904 in Curaçao, has expanded its operations in the Dutch Caribbean over the past 107 ans. It is a key subsidiary of the Caribbean conglomerate, Holdings Guardian, which has a total revenue base of approximately ANG200 million in the Dutch Caribbean territories.　 Fatum maintains a dominant position in the Dutch Caribbean with a workforce of over 200 employees and remains one of the leading providers of life, general and health insurance products and services.

“We are proud to have been awarded this mandate,” commented Bruce Sim, Head, Capital Markets and Wealth Management, RBC Financial (Caribbean) Ltd. “Not only does this mark Fatum’s first journey to the local and regional capital markets, it also signals RBC/RBTT’s unwavering commitment to the Dutch Caribbean market and willingness to continue working with its corporate clients, investors and regulators to develop the local and regional capital markets.”

Steven Martin, Fatum President, commented that “RBC Merchant BaDes Caraïbesbean) Limited understood the financing needs of our company and were able to structure a deal in keeping with our goals and objectives. As part of a Caribbean financial group, we are happy to have partnered with this global institution which will allow us to expand our insurance activities across the region”.

President of Guardian Life Limited Eric Hosin is joined by Principal of the UWI Mona Campus, Professor Gordon Shirley, Feature Speaker Dr. Maryellen Weimer and Professor Alvin Wint, Pro Vice Chancellor Board For Undergraduate Studies following Dr. Weimer’s Presentation on “Developing Critical Thinkers for Today’s Global Society”

Educators have been challenged to embrace a more learner-centered approach in order to boost academic excellence at all levels in the education system.

The challenge was made by Dr. Maryellen Weimer, Professor Emerita of the Pennsylvania State University, as she delivered the University of the West Indies/Guardian Life Premium Open Lecture at the Mona Visitors’  Lodge and Conference Centre on the UWI Mona Campus on Wednesday night (October 13). The lecture was held under the theme ‘Developing Critical thinkers for Today’s Global Society: Contributions from Learner Centered Teaching’.  Dr. Weimer, an educator of Penn State University has distinguished herself as a Professor of Teaching and Learning.  For the last 13 years she has been lecturing in communication and other disciplines to business students.

She used the 2011 lecture to urge educators to employ strategies to get students more involved in the process of learning. “Students need to be the focal point and this can be done by empowering students with more control over the learning material, and facilitating class discussions and group studies where the students are in charge and peer to peer learning is achieved”, said Dr. Weimer.

Dr. Weimer further noted that too often educators make the final decisions about what students learn, and the pace and style of that learning process.  She has recommended shifting the focus of the learning outcome into the hands of the students as learner-centered teaching will stimulate critical thinking among them. She said this approach is effective across all disciplines and will help to improve the decision-making process and standards of excellence in a globally-competitive society.

In the meantime, Vice President of Employee Benefit at Guardian Life Limited Carol Hibbert, highlighted that the insurance firm is committed to projects that benefit, uplift and will help make Jamaica’s vision 2030 a reality, particularly in the areas of learning, youth, sports and environment.

“We at Guardian Life are certain that with the continuation of creative collaborative ventures, our region will succeed in attaining the first world ambitions that we have, for consistent excellence in every sphere of achievement”, noted Mrs. Hibbert

Principal of the UWI Mona Campus, Professor Gordon Shirley welcomed the partnership with Guardian Life to stage the biennial lectures. He also praised the work of the University’s Instructional Development Unit (IDU), noting that it had positively impacted the delivery of the wide range of programmes offered at the tertiary institution.

In his remarks on behalf of the UWI Vice Chancellor, Professor Alvin Wint, Pro Vice Chancellor, Office of the Board for Undergraduates Studies stated that while the institution has made important advances, it would be placing even greater focus on learner-centered teaching in the coming years.

“For the upcoming strategic planning period, the focus will be on ensuring greater alignment between UWI’s goals in emphasizing student-centered learning and the Institution’s reward and incentive system to ensure that student-centered learning becomes the ethos that pervades the entire institution” added Professor Wint.

The Premium Open Lecture alternates yearly with a Premium Teaching Award aimed at enhancing the teaching process at the University while recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of the academic staff.

Guardian Life is a member of the Trinidad and Tobago-based Guardian Holdings Group and continues to live up to its mantra, ‘Looking After Life’ by contributing to the education and health sectors of Jamaica through grants, scholarships and the recent renovation of the Intensive Care Units at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

Port-of-Spain, Août 22, 2011: Holdings Limited Guardian, through its member companies Guardian Life in Trinidad & La Jamaïque et Tobago, continues to reinforce its commitment to regional development and education by once again partnering with The University of the West Indies at its St. Augustine and Mona campuses, in hosting the UWI/Guardian Life Premium Teaching Lecture 2011

This event, organized through the Instructional Development Unit (IDU) at The UWI’s two campuses, will feature Dr. Maryellen Weimer, Professor Emerita of Teaching and Learning, Penn State University, Etats-Unis, and winner of the Milton S. Eisenhower award for distinguished teaching. À la Trinité- & Tobago, Dr. Weimer will focus on Maximum Impact: Using Feedback to Drive Assessment on September 30th; in Jamaica, she will speak to Developing Critical Thinkers for Today’s Global Society: Contributions from Learner Centred Teaching on October 12th.

Dr. Maryellen Weimer is a Professor Emeritus of Teaching and Learning at Penn State, where she won the Milton S. Eisenhower award for distinguished teaching. She has served as Associate Director of the National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning and Assessment and regularly keynotes national meetings and regional conferences. Dr. Weimer has edited/authored eight books, her most recent being “Inspired College Teaching: A Career-Long Resource for Professional Growth”.

The lectures specially target the teaching fraternity in tertiary, secondary as well as primary institutions and persons interested in education, teaching and learning, assessment and feedback methods. To find out more about The UWI/Guardian Life Premium Teaching Lecture 2011, interested persons are invited to contact idu@sta.uwi.edu; idu@uwimona@edu.jm ou ghl@guardianholdings.com