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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, April 12, 2017 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Legislators and bankers from across the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) met in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Tuesday (April 11) to discuss proposed amendments to the Banking Act 2015.

 

The Act addresses the need for effective risk-focused supervision of financial institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the region’s financial system.

 

The proposed amendments were deliberated at length during a Consultative and Legislative Drafting Workshop, hosted by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), after certain areas of concern were raised during the operationalization of the Act in the various ECCU Member States.

 

The discussions were led by the ECCB Monetary Council’s Ministerial Sub-Committee, which consists of Chairman and Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves, Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister, the Honourable Gaston Browne and Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris.

 

Also representing St. Kitts and Nevis at the workshop was Deputy Financial Secretary, Mrs. Sylvia Gumbs.

 

Other attendees included representatives from the Attorneys General Chambers, the Ministries of Finance and other Bankers Associations.

 

The outcome of Tuesday’s discussions will be formulated in a draft bill for consideration by the various Attorneys General of the ECCU, the ECCB Board of Directors and the Monetary Council, with the hope that those amendments would be enacted by the respective National Parliaments by December 31, 2017.

 

The Banking Act 2015, came into effect in St. Kitts and Nevis on May 20, 2016.