A gov­ern­ment nom­i­nee on the Na­tion­al In­sur­ance Board (NIB) has been el­e­vat­ed to the po­si­tion of chair­man.

Busi­ness­man Patrick Fer­reira was ini­tial­ly ap­point­ed to the NIB board as a nom­i­nee of the Gov­ern­ment, but on Fri­day con­firmed that by let­ter dat­ed Jan­u­ary 24 he is now chair­man. He will now over­see the han­dling of the agency's $31 bil­lion as­set base.

Ac­cord­ing to the NIB Act, the Board shall con­sist of 11 mem­bers des­ig­nat­ed as di­rec­tors, who shall be ap­point­ed by the line min­is­ter and should in­clude three mem­bers nom­i­nat­ed by the Gov­ern­ment, three mem­bers nom­i­nat­ed by the as­so­ci­a­tions most rep­re­sen­ta­tive of busi­ness, three mem­bers nom­i­nat­ed by the as­so­ci­a­tions most rep­re­sen­ta­tive of labour and a per­son, who in the opin­ion of the min­is­ter, is in­de­pen­dent of the Gov­ern­ment, busi­ness and labour, who shall be the Chair­man.

Fer­reira's ap­point­ment has ef­fec­tive­ly breached the act.

How­ev­er, de­spite the dis­tinc­tions for the ap­point­ment of an in­de­pen­dent chair­man, Fer­reira does not see any con­flict in his ap­point­ment.

"I don't see any con­flict. A re­quest was made of me to serve and I felt it an ho­n­our to ac­cept," Fer­reira said in re­sponse to ques­tions from the Sun­day Guardian on Fri­day.

The NIB was ini­tial­ly chaired by for­mer in­de­pen­dent sen­a­tor He­len Dray­ton. The Sun­day Guardian was re­li­ably in­formed that Dray­ton's two-year term came to an end in Jan­u­ary. Dray­ton could not be reached for com­ment.

Fer­reira has long­stand­ing ex­pe­ri­ence in the busi­ness are­na, hav­ing served as the Chief Ex­ec­u­tive Of­fi­cer of Fur­ness Rentals Di­vi­sion. Ac­cord­ing to a Jan­u­ary 26, 2022 com­pa­ny up­date, Fer­reira is now the chair­man of Fur­ness Chem­i­cals Ltd, Fur­ness Ship­ping and Mar­ket­ing and Fur­ness Per­son­nel Ser­vices Ltd.

The web­site states that Fer­reira holds cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in law and ar­bi­tra­tion and serves as CEO of Fur­ness Rentals Lim­it­ed, Fur­ness Prop­er­ties Lim­it­ed and Fur­ness In­vest­ments Lim­it­ed.

He al­so serves as di­rec­tor of Na­tion­al In­sur­ance Prop­er­ty De­vel­op­ment Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed (NIPDEC), a sub­sidiary of NIB, and a Di­rec­tor of Trinidad & To­ba­go NGL Lim­it­ed, a sub­sidiary of the Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny of Trinidad & To­ba­go.

Ac­cord­ing to the NIB Act, Fer­reira, as chair­man, now has over­sight of the in­vest­ment com­mit­tee which is tasked with ad­vis­ing on the in­vest­ment pol­i­cy of the Board and car­ry­ing out oth­er du­ties and re­spon­si­bil­i­ties as may be del­e­gat­ed by the Board. If Fer­reira can­not at­tend these meet­ings, then he has the pow­er to nom­i­nate the Deputy Chair­man of the Board to pre­side in his stead.

Au­dit­ed fig­ures from the NIB states that it has an as­set base of $31 bil­lion. The Sun­day Guardian learnt that the au­dit­ed fig­ures have been pre­sent­ed to Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert to be laid in Par­lia­ment. At the end of June 2020, the fund was $28.9 bil­lion, while at the end of Ju­ly 2021 it grew to $31 bil­lion–an in­crease of $2 bil­lion.

Sun­day Guardian reached out to the Min­istry of Fi­nance for com­ment but Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert did not re­spond. How­ev­er, Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Fi­nance Bri­an Man­ning said that the min­istry would be is­su­ing a re­lease "soon".

Minister in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning.

NIB Act states:

Un­der the Es­tab­lish­ment and in­cor­po­ra­tion of the Board:

3. (1) There is here­by es­tab­lished for the pur­pos­es of this Act, a Na­tion­al In­sur­ance Board of Trinidad and To­ba­go (here­inafter re­ferred to as “the Board”) which shall be a body cor­po­rate.

(2) The Board shall con­sist of eleven mem­bers des­ig­nat­ed Di­rec­tors, who shall be ap­point­ed by the Min­is­ter, as fol­lows:

(a) three mem­bers nom­i­nat­ed by the Gov­ern­ment;

(b) three mem­bers nom­i­nat­ed by the as­so­ci­a­tions most rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Busi­ness;

(c) three mem­bers nom­i­nat­ed by the as­so­ci­a­tions most rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Labour;

(d) a per­son, who in the opin­ion of the Min­is­ter, is in­de­pen­dent of the Gov­ern­ment, Busi­ness and Labour, who shall be the Chair­man;

(e) the Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor as ex of­fi­cio mem­ber.

(3) The Deputy Chair­man shall be se­lect­ed by the Board from among its mem­bers at the first meet­ing of the Board.

(4) In re­spect of each Di­rec­tor, the Min­is­ter shall in like man­ner des­ig­nate an al­ter­nate mem­ber; and, sub­ject to sub­sec­tion (7)(a), any such al­ter­nate mem­ber may, with the ap­proval of the Chair­man, act in the stead of the re­spec­tive Di­rec­tor at any one or more meet­ings of the Board.

(5) Ap­point­ment to the of­fice of Di­rec­tor shall, sub­ject to sub­sec­tion

(6), be for such pe­ri­od, be­ing not more than two years, as is spec­i­fied at the time of the ap­point­ment. A Di­rec­tor shall be el­i­gi­ble for reap­point­ment. (6) A Di­rec­tor may at any time re­sign his of­fice by in­stru­ment in writ­ing ad­dressed to the Chair­man, who shall forth­with cause it to be for­ward­ed to the Min­is­ter.

Un­der In­vest­ment Com­mit­tee

24.

4. (1) There shall be an In­vest­ment Com­mit­tee con­sist­ing of—

(a) the Chair­man of the Board as Chair­man;

(b) the Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor;

(c) the Chief Fi­nan­cial Of­fi­cer who shall be an ex of­fi­cio non-vot­ing mem­ber;

(d) three oth­er mem­bers of the Board nom­i­nat­ed re­spec­tive­ly by the Min­is­ter, the Di­rec­tors who are nom­i­nees of Busi­ness and the Di­rec­tors who are nom­i­nees of Labour; 22 Chap. 32:01 Na­tion­al In­sur­ance LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TO­BA­GO Au­tho­rised in­vest­ments. First Sched­ule.