Insurance Brokers and Intermediaries to be Designated Financial Institutions

The Senate on Friday (Feb. 9) approved a resolution to designate insurance brokers and intermediaries as financial institutions for the purpose of the Money Laundering Act.
Noel Monteith, Minister of State for Education and Youth, who moved the Money Laundering (Financial Institutions) (Insurance Brokers and Insurance Intermediaries) Resolution 2006, said that the measure was part of the country’s efforts to meet its international obligations in terms of reducing money laundering.
He informed that the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) in April 2005, examined Jamaica’s framework for money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, to determine whether the regime was consistent with the 40 plus recommendations laid down by the Financial Action Task Force.
He said that while the task force acknowledged the efforts that were made towards the fulfilment of Jamaica’s international obligations, “full compliance could not be recorded in all areas, as there were additional measures that needed to be implemented”.
“One such area that was identified but could be corrected quickly, was the requirement that anti-money laundering obligations should be placed on all financial institutions,” informed Senator Monteith.
According to the Education State Minister, insurance brokers and intermediaries were very important participants in the insurance sector but they remain outside the statutory anti-money laundering regime that was applicable to insurance companies.
“As providers of financial services related to insurance, the omission places the insurance sector, which is regulated by the Financial Services Commission, in an unnecessary risky position of being used by brokers and intermediaries to facilitate the laundering of the proceeds of crime,” he said, noting that the legislation would serve to address this concern.