Two reports about recent speeches in this newspaper were the stimuli. The first was made by Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry President and entrepreneur, Jason Russell. State Minister in the Ministry of Industry, Investment, and Commerce Delano Seiveright’s was the second.
The first took the form of advice – my preferred word instead of ‘warning’, in the article – was offered by the businessman. It was, probably, the product of his experience: “insurance alone is not enough to safeguard businesses from disaster”. This is fact. “He urged fellow entrepreneurs to strengthen their financial preparedness and build resilience to withstand unexpected shocks”. Insurance executives should also know this from their line of work.
Former aide to the tourism minister, now policymaker, and a member of parliament, Mr Seiveright, like Mr Russell, also addressed students at a ‘Banking & Beyond: Account Opening & Financial Readiness’ Seminar at Church Teachers’ College in Mandeville. He emphasised “the critical importance of understanding banking, money management, and financial systems from a young age”. The article did not say what the phrase ‘financial readiness’ meant. It also omitted to say why the planners limited the discussion to banks when these same institutions are engaged in the insurance industry and are therefore exposed to climate-change risks. The choice of the discussion topic was even more perplexing. The seminar took place after the island suffered two record-breaking hurricanes that caused damage and disruption amounting to over US$12.2 billion, especially in southern parishes, including Manchester.
Financial readiness, the state minister said, is not a luxury. It is a basic life skill. He cited 2023 central bank data that revealed that “22.8 per cent of adults remained unbanked while nearly 50 per cent of in-school youths struggle with concepts like compound interest”. Missing from the information he presented was data about the insurance penetration gap. Verisk Extreme Events Solutions estimated that “eight out every 10 local houses” were uninsured. This is about the same amount of uninsured small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, that have no insurance. Any discussion about financial readiness should include banks and insurance companies.
The devastation caused by Hurricanes Beryl (2024) and Melissa (2025) exposed more than Jamaica’s physical vulnerability to extreme weather. It revealed deeper weaknesses in how risks are anticipated, absorbed, and managed across the economy. Despite repeated references to the socio-economic consequences of these storms, little attention has been paid to how Jamaica’s financial shock absorbers — mainly insurers, intermediaries, regulators, and other groups – performed their roles effectively when tested.
Insurance alone, as the entrepreneur argued, does not guarantee resilience. What was missing, and remains underdeveloped, is business continuity planning — the framework that determines whether businesses, institutions, and markets can continue operating during and after catastrophic events. Insurers and intermediaries should have a deeper understanding of the threats their clients face and help them manage those risks, instead of simply selling products to reach growth targets to generate income. This is the big idea behind regulator’s market conduct guidelines.
For example, business continuity planning focuses on preserving essential economic functions: keeping firms open, maintaining employment, supporting supply chains, and ensuring that recovery begins quickly rather than stalling amid confusion and liquidity stress. In the absence of such planning, insurance payouts — if delayed, inadequate, or poorly coordinated — do little to prevent large-scale economic contraction. The near-60 per cent decline in GDP following the back-to-back hurricanes underscores this reality.
Business continuity planning is inseparable from risk management. Risk management identifies threats — climate change, intensifying hurricanes, fragile governance systems – but continuity planning converts those assessments into operational readiness. The absence of these terms from the vocabularies of the risk-bearing industry and its regulator post-Beryl and Melissa, suggests that (1) insurance exists in a silo or (2) lessons were neither learnt, communicated, nor embedded into future preparedness strategies, and (3) a combination of items (1) and (2). Without that feedback loop, risk management becomes a reporting exercise rather than a resilience-building tool.
Seeing Jamaica’s Centenary in 2062 references to India should be instructive. In that country, insurance is being repositioned as part of national resilience infrastructure, not merely as a private market product. Its ‘Insurance for All by 2047’ vision links widespread coverage to enterprise resilience, macroeconomic stability, and lower fiscal pressure after disasters. This approach implicitly incorporates risk management and continuity planning: protecting firms so they can operate, adapt, and recover rather than collapse.
Jamaica’s experiences post-Beryl and Melissa suggest the opposite dynamic. Estimated damage of US$12.2 billion was, to the best of my knowledge, accompanied by limited public engagement from insurers or regulators on recovery performance, claims handling, or preparedness improvements. This absence reinforces a key lesson: insurance without continuity planning cannot prevent economic dislocation.
As Jamaica approaches the 2062 centenary of Independence, the challenge is not simply higher insurance penetration, but integration — linking risk assessment, business continuity planning, and insurance into a coherent resilience framework. In climate-exposed economies, continuity planning determines whether shocks become temporary disruptions or prolonged national setbacks. Hurricanes Beryl and Melissa have already supplied the evidence. The question now is whether the lessons will be institutionalised — or ignored.
Cedric E. Stephens offers free counsel and advice if you require assistance managing risks or solving insurance problems. To obtain information and counsel, please write to The Business Editor at business@gleanerjm.com or contact Mr Stephens directly at aegisja@gmail.com. Letters and emails will be edited for clarity and length.
