Central Bank Governor, Jwala Rambarran, has recommended banker Krishna Boodhai to serve as the next chairman of the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC), replacing former Minister of Finance and Credit Suisse advisor, Wendell Mottley.
The UTC Act states that the chairman of the institution is appointed by “instrument in writing by the President upon the recommendation of the Central Bank.”
The Act also states that the chairman “shall hold office for five years or such shorter term as the minister in consultation with the Central Bank may specify.”
The UTC is the largest mutual fund provider in T&T with 841,375 unitholder accounts. It reported in its 2014 annual report that it had close to $21 billion in total funds under management and last year it had total sales of $5.3 billion.
The Business Guardian understands that the official announcement of Boodhai’s appointment is likely to be made before the end of this week. The Business Guardian was told of the appointment by someone close to the UTC.
Boodhai, who is 65, worked as the managing director and CEO of Intercommercial Bank Ltd (IBL) between November 2011 and September 2014. He is currently the chief executive of a construction company.
At that time he joined IBL, it was a 50/50 joint venture between the Jamaican financial services company, JMMB, and the Mittal group, the owners of the global iron and steel empire. In 2013, JMMB acquired the 50 per cent stake in IBL from the Mittal group and now owns 100 per cent of IBL.
Finance Minister Larry Howai said he was consulted on his appointment and that he was fine with it. He said that Boodhai’s resume indicates that he is quite qualified, both academically and experience-wise, to hold the position of chairman of the UTC.
Howai said Boodhai would have received ‘fit and proper’ clearance from the Central Bankin advance of his appointment as the managing director of IBL.
Before IBL, Boodhai spent more than two years—between October 2005 and January 2008, according to his resume below—working as the chief financial officer of CMMB, which was part of the CL Financial group until it was acquired by majority state-owned First Citizen Bank in 2009 for $1.
Ironically, JMMB held a 45 per cent stake in CMMB from 1999 to 2008, when it sold that stake to its joint venture partner, CL Financial.
The Central Bank Governor worked as chief economist at CMMB at the same time that Boodhai was the company's chief financial officer. (See image)
Boodhai was forced into the limelight in June when he retained his place as a director on the board of the collapsed insurer, Clico, in the wake of the resignations of two of the company's directors, Denyse Mehta and Jagdeesh Siewrattan. They resigned on principle for what they claimed was the “unfair, unjust and insensitive” dismissals of Clico chairman Gerald Yetming and the insurer's managing director Carolyn John.
Rambarran terminated the appointments of Yetming and John on June 5 because, he claimed, “Clico failed to follow direct instructions issued by the Bank on March 26 2015 setting out the protocols for all disbursements to policyholders and creditors under the Clico Resolution Plan.”
Boodhai and deputy Inspector of Financial Institutions Wendy Ho Sing, who was appointed as executive chairman of Clico “with immediate effect” on June 5 were the only directors at the insurance company between June 5 and July 13, when the Central Bank appointed Ulric Miller, Delia Joseph and Raymond Bachoo as directors of the board of Clico.
While Boodhai chose not to join with the two other directors who resigned from the Clico board after the dismissals of John and Yetming, he continues to serve on the Angostura board as a director under the chairmanship of Yetming.
Boodhai, according to a notice published on the Stock Exchange website on August 4, was one of four directors re-elected to serve on the board of Angostura. They are Gerald Yetming, Marlon Holder, Joseph Teixeira and Krishna Boodhai.
Krishna Boodhai’s resume
Personal
Date of Birth: 9th July 1950
Nationality: Trinidadian
Language: English
Current Post: Managing Director Hanover Construction Company Limited
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Jan 2015 to Present*Managing Director, Hanover Construction Company Limited
Oct 2010 to Present*Non Executive Director: CLICO, Angostura
Nov 2011 to Sept 2014*Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer IBL Bank
April 2008 to Nov 2010*Chief Executive Officer – Institute of Chartered Accountants of T&T
Dec 2007 to Nov 2011*Non Executive Director IBL Bank
Aug 2011 to Dec 2011*Non Executive Director Unit Trust Corporation
Oct 2010 to Jun 2011*Non Executive Director CL Financial Limited
1991-1992*Non Executive Director –
National Petroleum Company
1997-2002*Non Executive Director - Freezone Company of T&T
Oct 2005 to Jan 2008*Chief Financial Officer – Caribbean Money Market Brokers Responsible for Finance, Risk, Legal and Compliance
Apr 1997 to Oct 2005*Chief Financial Officer – Citibank- Trinidad
Responsible for Finance for Trinidad, Barbados and Bahamas
Aug 1992 to Apr 1997*Financial Comptroller/ Head of Finance Scotiabank – Trinidad Responsible for Finance and Treasury.
Aug 1978 to Jul 1992*Vice President -Secretary /Treasurer British American Insurance Company Trinidad Ltd. Responsible for Finance /Treasury /Corporate Secretarial for Trinidad, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
Jan 1976 to Jul 1978*Accountant – Colonial Life Insurance Company.
Responsible for accounting, tax, regulatory filings.
Oct 1970 to Jan 1976*Accounting Assistant – Accountant UWI – St Augustine
Sept 1967 to Oct 1970*Primary School Teacher - Govt of Trinidad and Tobago
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
FCCA /CA
Henley Management College
MBA – Finance
Chartered Insurance Institute ACII
Life Management Institute FLMI
OTHER INTERESTS
Member and Past President of the Rotary Club of St Augustine.
Chairman UWI Audit Committee July 09 to present .Member of UWI Council 2014/2015
Member ICATT Council March 2015 to present
