As the National Insurance Board (NIB) celebrates 50 years of existence, chairman Patrick Ferreira said the organisation will implement several initiatives to enable it to continue to serve the nation for another 50 years.
Speaking at a cocktail reception on the rooftop of the NIB building, Queen’s Park East, Port of Spain, on Friday, Ferreira said 2022 was a notable year for the organisation.
“We are adding value to our customers' lives with 23 benefits in seven categories, 14 conveniently located service centres and a vision for the future; 2022 also marks the implementation of the Empower ICT project, which will significantly shorten our deliverables to customers and stakeholders in the areas of claims processing, record keeping and organisation efficiency.
“We can now use technology to drive critical service obligations which we could never achieve in a manual environment. Employees will soon go online to file claims, check contributions in real-time and produce statements right away. Employers will be able to go online to manage contributions and make payments. Compliance certificates can be processed in seconds. There will be no need to physically visit a service centre, however, those who are not inclined to utilise the technology can still visit but will not meet long lines or wait a long time for appointments.”
Ferreira said the merger of the Home Mortgage Bank and TT Mortgage Finance will be completed in July, and the new entity, the TT Mortgage Bank Ltd, will result in cost savings through the operational synergies created by the two former companies, redounding to the benefit of customers and enhanced value creation for shareholders.
He thanked the employees who had contributed to the success of the NIB, and said he was proud of their commitment.
[caption id="attachment_961669" align="alignnone" width="862"] National Insurance Board chairman Patrick Ferreira adresses at the 50th annivesary reception, at the head office Queen’s Park Savannah East, Port of Spain on Friday. - SUREASH CHOLAI[/caption]
Finance Minister Colm Imbert said a 50-year milestone is a significant one. He said the NIB stood as a beacon of hope for the most vulnerable in society.
“The national insurance system became operational on April 10, 1972, with the immediate provision of two benefits – retirement grant and funeral grant. In 1973, sickness, maternity, survivors, and invalidity benefits were introduced. The retirement pension became payable as of February 17, 1975, and today, in excess of 125,000 retirees receive their NIS payment monthly.
“One of the features of the national insurance payment, which is not universally implemented all over the world, is that people can receive both our senior citizen’s pension and the national insurance pension, and in fact, when the means test is done for the senior citizen’s pension which is a non-contributory pension, the national insurance pension is not counted as income, this is quite a unique feature.”
He congratulated the managers of the National Insurance Fund (NIF)
