THE OPPOSITION Jamaica Labour Party chided the Government on Tuesday for a legislative foul-up which resulted in employees of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the regulatory body for non-deposit-taking institutions, carrying out their duties for five years without the force of the law.
Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies, took a bill to Parliament seeking to protect the officers and staff of the FSC from legal proceedings, including civil or criminal, over the period in which they acted.
The Financial Services Commission (Insurance Services) (Validation and Indemnity) Act 2006, piloted by Dr. Davies, sought to indemnify the FSC staff for the period December 21, 2001 to February 2005.
REGULATING INSTITUTIONS
According to the Memorandum of Objects and Reasons, in May 2001, the FSC Act was enacted, establishing the FSC to regulate non-deposit-taking institutions in the financial services sector, including the insurance industry.
In 2001, the act, with the exception of provisions relating to insurance services, was brought into operation. The insurance provisions were to have been brought into operation simultaneously with the Insurance Act 2001, but inadvertently, this was not done.
The legislation was gazetted in March 2005.
