Caribbean Times 100th Issue - Friday 17th February 2017

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4 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g Friday 17th February 2017 PM Browne gets kudos from CARICOM Leaders Prime Minister, Hon. Gaston Browne, who is leading Antigua and Barbuda’s delegation to the 28th Intercessional Meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders now underway in Guyana, has been commended by his colleagues for his handling of the De-risking issue. “We congratulate you on your stewardship and advocacy of the Caribbean cause regarding the importance of correspondence banking,” Chairman of Conference, President David Granger of Guyana told PM Browne. The sentiment was also echoed by several other colleague heads of government. PM Browne, who was appointed the lead prime minister on this particular subject, presented a report of his stewardship to the meeting on Thursday. Sources close to the meeting said PM Browne described the corresponding bank relations or de-risking issue as ‘one of the most significant threats facing the region at this time’. He reported that the CARICOM countries adopted a unified approach to tackling the issue and they implemented a number of initiatives to confront the threat. Among the strategies, he recalled, was a meeting in Antigua last October that brought together a number of stakeholders in a forum to map out a plan of action for the region. According to the prime minister the meeting was attended by the governors of regional central banks as well as others associated with the issue. But he noted that whilst invitations were sent to regulators from the United States, they stayed away from the meeting. PM Browne opined that their absence may have been out of concern that the forum would have been a ‘shame and blame’ exercise. The prime minister also reported that a follow-up meeting was held in Trinidad with attendance from organisations such as the International Monetary Fund. cont’d on pg 5
Friday 17th February 2017 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g 5 cont’d from pg 4 The source said Browne expressed the view that the region has been successful in getting the attention of the global community to the issue of de-risking including both the IMF and the World Bank. Browne has also expressed confidence that through its efforts the Caribbean countries have been able to obtain a halt in further de-risking, although he concedes that it is still a threat going forward. Additionally, he noted that both the Finance Stability Board and the US Comptroller of Currency have issued guidelines to ensure that large international banks do not ‘willi nilli’ introduce policies on de-risking. The source also reported that the Caribbean Development Bank will convene a meeting in Barbados next week with U.S, Canada and the United Kingdom bank representatives to discuss what they expect from Caribbean banks. In his report, PM Browne also recommended that the region pool its resources as it seeks ‘push-back’ on the de-risking issue. He also announced that the region has received the commitment from the European Union (EU) to provide resources to help strengthen CAR- ICOM’s ‘technical capacity’ on this matter. “We must continue to insist on compliance; we cannot afford any Caribbean country to be listed as non-compliant on global standards,” Browne told his colleagues.
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Caribbean Times 100th Issue - Friday 17th February 2017

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