Dear Mr. Prime Minister Browne,
As a former Banker and in your current position as Minister of Finance (Antigua & Barbuda) and Chairman of Caricom, it is time for you and your OECS colleague Prime Ministers look into updating the Regulatory culture at our Central Bank.
Businesses and local entrepreneurs who have been built and have functioned for many years growing with foreign banks, have gotten accustomed to certain standards in their operations along with a helpful customer service approach.
Know Your Customer (KYC) is the highest standard whereby support from the Canadian banks in particular was realized over many years of monitoring the financial track record of not only the businesses, but the financial character of the principals of the business.
Whereas, the failure of our indigenous banks to give the same level of trust to our indigenous businesses and their owners is thought to be circumscribed by local attitudes and politics, it is being discovered that the real culprits are our Central Bank.
The thread leads to the World Bank, the IMF, and the European equivalent banking authorities which are intimidating our Central Bank with their restrictive treaties geared to reducing the movement of currency in our region.
However, what made banking operations easy with the foreign banks was the confidence which our Central Bank expressed in the foreigners, unlike the constant policing under which indigenous banks are forced to operate.
It is common knowledge that the overseas agencies which oversee money-laundering and the illegal movement of funding to terrorism and other nefarious organizations, have had the region under siege for many years, and not without good reason, when we consider Stanford among others.
In these changing times Mr. P.M. our Central Bank requires Regulatory overhaul which allows our indigenous banks some leeway to offer a similar secured service to their indigenous businesses as was made possible through the foreign banks.
Although the issue depends on the overseas regulatory agencies, the punitive measures they have set in place against the region must be constantly monitored and removed when compliance is achieved. Mr. P. M., even if it means your establishing more secure barriers to the characters whose finances are questionable please implement and save the business and people of this island.
Mr. Prime Minister, our OECS Central Bank need more stamina, more backbone to challenge the International agencies broad based brush of inclusion by location, and help negotiate for us a better position in the financial world. The label of corruption in the Caribbean which unfortunately is becoming commonplace requires ‘Corrupters’ from the regions that ‘have’ working with ‘Corruptees’ here who ‘have not!’
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Really??????
Letter Writer: Which Bank in Antigua had monies washed through its operations? You know,that of which I speak,money laundered .What bleached product did they use to clean out those stains.LOL.
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