The Tribune

THE Bahamas Insurance Association held its annual awards ceremony and reception at the Nassau Yacht Club on Thursday.

BIA organises the event to recognise the achievements of employees of member companies who have been successful in examinations of the Chartered Insurance Institute of England (CII) and the Insurance Institute of Canada (IIC).

At this year’s ceremony, more than 190 employees were honoured for their success in the 2013 examinations.

More than 150 attended, including the Superintendent of the Insurance Commission (ICB), Michelle Fields, the executives of the BIA, and senior managers and staff from 28 member companies.

Those earning the top professional qualifications were:

• Shakira Moxey (Bahamas First) and Simone Henfield (Bahamas First/NUA) received awards for having completed the Advanced Diploma in Insurance (ACII);

• Delareese Lowe (Family Guardian) for obtaining the Fellowship in Life and Health Claims (FLHC) and Latisha Gilbert-Carey (Colina), Marcia Miller (Family Guardian) and Dorneika Ritchie (Family Guardian) for completing the requirements for the Fellow of Life Management Institute (FLMI).

Mr Howard Knowles, Chairman of the BIA, congratulated the employees for their hard work and their continuing desire to increase their technical knowledge and professionalism in the insurance industry.

Co-ordinator Dr Rhonda Chipman-Johnson noted that there was a significant increase in the number of persons attaining the various associate designations.

“The association is pleased that employees of member companies have been successful in a range of very important insurance-industry related examinations, earning designations that will identify them as competent at various levels of practice,” Dr Chipman-Johnson said.

According to Dr Chipman-Johnson, a number of the Bahamian insurance professionals passed individual CII subjects.

Four obtained the Certificate of Insurance (Cert CII) and 48 achieved the LOMA Certificate.

Both certifications speak to a grounding in insurance principles.

Chairman Knowles and the superintendent of the ICB made presentations to the persons who had attained associate designations.

These included the Associate of Life Management (ALMI-15 persons); the Associate Insurance Regulatory Compliance (AIRC-4 persons); the Associate, Customer Service (ACS-18 persons); the Associate Insurance Agency Administration (AIAA-2 persons); the Associate Academy of Life Underwriting (AALU-1 person); The Associate Life and Health Claims (ALHC-1 person) and the Certified Professional Coder (1 person).

Superintendent Fields, in her brief remarks, applauded the employees who “after giving 100 per cent at the office, have the fortitude to go home at night and study”.

She underlined the importance of obtaining industry specific accreditation to ensure more in-depth knowledge and to enhance employees’ prospects for upward mobility in their organisations.

She also commended employers, members of the BIA, for investing time and resources in the continued training of their employees.