A Harneys farewell to Dr Robert Mathavious, OBE
Mr Mac, as we affectionately call him will effectively retire from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) on Thursday 31 December 2020 after a long and illustrious over forty-year career as a financial services pioneer and nation builder for the British Virgin Islands. He will be dearly missed in the industry. Throughout his distinguished career, Dr Mathavious has played a pivotal role in charting the course of the development of the BVI financial services industry for over 35 years. Dr Mathavious served (as a civil servant), in the capacity of Deputy Financial Secretary (1980-1985), Financial Secretary (1985-1991) and Director of Financial Services (1993-2001).
He assumed the post of Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services Commission since January 2002, a position he would have held for almost twenty years by the date of his retirement. As a nation builder, he wrote and executed a vision for the Commission’s growth and his own succession planning, which included recruitment and training of a strong cadre of present and future Virgin Islander leaders. He was intentional about exposing and developing Virgin Islanders in order to ensure that the Commission can continue to be led by Virgin Islanders and that the inheritance of leadership would obtain from within the organisation. In 2013, he was conferred with an Honourary Doctorate Degree by the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus in recognition of his stellar contributions to Caribbean development in the field of financial services.
Throughout his work, Dr Mathavious has shown a true commitment to the Territory’s advancement. He was a true team player and worked collaboratively and in partnership with the BVI community and the financial services industry. Of utmost significance to his legacy, he championed the BVI as a stable, credible and trustworthy financial centre, and ensured that the BVI always kept in line with international standards and ethics. Most recently, his values of transparency and accountability were also recognised when he was asked to help establish the Recovery and Development Agency post Hurricanes, Irma and Maria, in 2017.
In recognition of his stellar contribution to the territory’s development over four decades, he was also recently bestowed the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours for his contributions to financial services.
Harneys salutes Dr Robert A Mathavious on a career well spent and a retirement well deserved! He truly epitomises the FSC’s four-pronged vision of vigilance, integrity, leadership and accountability.
