The logic of a new chairman
Bermudian Alan Richardson has been chairman of the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) since January 1.
Mr. Richardson grew up and was educated in Bermuda. He attended Dalhousie University, where he received an honours degree in Commerce and subsequently qualified as a Bermuda chartered accountant in 1975. He describes gaining his professional qualification as an excellent way to join the financial sector. “It’s foundational, and it equipped me to have a broad base of understanding of business operations, but it was also, for me, a wonderful primer for understanding and learning how to manage people,” he said. “Skills are incubated in that environment and my commercial experience has enabled me to develop them further.”
Since qualifying, Mr. Richardson has gained his commercial experience predominantly in the financial services sector of the economy. The part of his working life for which he is probably best-known on the Island was the 14 years he spent at the Bank of Bermuda, which he joined as chief accountant, progressing through the financial planning group to the banking sector. Eventually, he succeeded Henry Smith in heading up the bank’s retail operations.
In 2002, Mr. Richardson left the bank to pursue some entrepreneurial endeavours, among them a furniture store and a day spa that he and an associate will start operating at the Newstead Belmont Hills Resort later this year.
Two “landmark” periods of his career that Mr. Richardson recalls fondly are his time at John W. Swan Ltd. in the mid-1970s to early ‘80s, which he recalled as “a dynamic environment, and, as it happened, a deposit-taking environment, at a time when the company was a real estate developer and a licensed deposit company.”
He continued: “It was also a place where I received one of the best mentoring experiences of my life, both from Sir John and more directly from Leon Simmons, at the time the company’s vice president and controller. He gave me unquestionably the most instructional, the most beneficial and the very best advice to help me to learn to understand and manage people. There is no question I continue to benefit from that time today.”
The other was his years at the Bank of Bermuda, “where I had the chance to help reshape a very large group of people, to refocus the retail client division strategically and operationally, but also to develop a highly talented group of people to lead the retail division. That probably has pride of place for me, working with a wonderful team of people at the Bank of Bermuda.”
Mr. Richardson had been consulting last summer for the Financial Secretary, Donald Scott, on behalf of the Minister of Finance. When those projects were complete, Mr. Richardson took on the position of chief executive officer of Logic Communications Ltd. Shortly after that, the Minister asked him to consider the chairmanship. “It was a compliment and a flattering request to be asked by the Minister of Finance to take an appointment, particularly since she is so highly regarded. Like many Bermudians who have two jobs, Mr. Richardson has retained his position at Logic Communications while taking over the chairmanship of the BMA.
“The opportunity to work with the Minister and the Financial Secretary, as well as the board, CEO and staff of the BMA, has been an incredible experience,” Mr. Richardson said. He is enjoying the relatively unusual experience of seeing business from both sides. “Coming from the days when the Authority used to regulate the bank, when I was among the regulated, I am now able to appreciate the operational and strategic workings of the Authority as the chairman of its board,” he said.
One somewhat unusual aspect of the Bermuda regulatory system is the goodwill that exists between the companies and the BMA. In many jurisdictions, that relationship is adversarial. A few bumps in a long road apart, that reservoir of goodwill enables the BMA to more easily develop and implement the regulatory regimes it envisages.
“There’s no question that the beneficial and constructive partnership between the Authority and its regulated institutions is an important hallmark of the way in which we’ve been able to evolve and develop best-in-world-class practices,” Mr. Richardson said. “The relationship is symbiotic, it’s positive, it’s supported.
“When you speak to the key players in the major industries we regulate, principally banking and insurance, they view the establishment of the Authority to world-class standards as synonymous with the growth and success in their businesses”, Mr. Richardson said.
“What these companies are saying is that to the extent that we develop into a world-class regulator, authority and supervisor, equally they can grow and develop their companies into world-class businesses.
As to the Authority’s mission, Mr. Richardson said: “It’s important to point out that we’re not just here to regulate and supervise, but to foster an environment where these key industries can grow and thrive in accordance with the high standards that are recognised as such by the world.”
Mr. Richardson takes over at a busy time for the Authority, although lately it seems to have been going through little else. The need for global standards by which business can be regulated, and the stability that such measures bring, is becoming ever more important. Bermuda certainly has a good track record in the development of the BMA as a regulator respected around the globe, and routinely fights above its weight in the setting of the standards, especially in the insurance area.
The recruitment of Mr. Richardson as chairman, and now Matthew Elderfield, who will replace Cheryl-Ann Lister, provides the BMA with new leadership to take it on the next steps to reinforcing it’s the Authority’s reputation, and therefore the Island’s, in the global financial community.
The logic of a new chairman
