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11th
Feburary 2010
Regional
Bank under Fire
M.G. George
Is
the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) interfering
in the domestic affairs of Saint Lucia?
This is a question on the minds of several Saint
Lucians following the charge of the leader of
the opposition in parliament that the ECCB should
not be on the Board of Directors of the Financial
Services Regulatory Authority, a body created
to supervise the financial landscape in Saint
Lucia.
That body, which emanated from the Monetary
Council of the ECCB, and which after several
studies is now making its way through the parliaments
of member countries of the Eastern Caribbean
Currency Union (ECCU) Tuesday received a rough
passage through the Saint Lucian Parliament.
This was one of several monetary bills announced
in the House of Assembly Tuesday by Prime Minister
Stephenson King who underscored their relevance
in light of the financial global crisis and
the recent difficulties of the regional economy.
However Dr. Kenny Anthony, though recognizing
the relevance of the bills in light of what
the Prime Minister said noted that because of
the far-reaching nature of legislations like
these, such bills should have been exposed to
the people in advance for discussion and understanding
of how they would impact on them.
But it was the Financial Services Regulatory
Authority Bill that the parliamentary opposition
leader had more to say on pointing out that
such a bill needed serious domestic discussion.
What seems to really irk Dr. Anthony where this
bill is concerned is the fact that it speaks
of having one person designated by the Governor
of the ECCB on its Board of Directors.
In other words the ECCB will have a presence
(representative) on the Board of Directors of
the Financial Services Regulatory Authority.
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“I have
a problem with that. The ECCB cannot have
its cake and eat it. The function of the Central
Bank is supervisory, the Bank is supposed
to make decisions to deal with problems to
ensure that regulations are in place to deal
with money laundering. Why is the Central
Bank becoming a decision maker?” Dr.
Anthony said.
Anthony, who is also the political leader
of the Saint Lucia Labour Party went further
stating that “the Central Bank has no
business having a person on the Board because
what is happening here is that the bank representative
is confusing the role of oversight, which
it has under the legislation, and decision
making that is involved in respect of the
Board.”
Dr. Anthony is of the view that the ECCB is
there to manage the monetary affairs of the
country not its fiscal affairs.
He added that while it is true that an application
may be referred to the Central Bank for purposes
of advice the understanding has always been
that the Minister for Finance could either
reject or accept that advice.
In stating that the Central Bank has no business
getting involved in domestic decision making
Dr. Anthony made the point that while certain
legal procedures could make perfect sense
in other sister countries of the ECCU that
does not mean these same procedures do make
sense in Saint Lucia. He noted that not everything
coming from the Central Bank in terms of legislation
is necessarily good.
“We need to understand it and analyze
it very carefully,” Dr. Anthony said.
A response to Dr. Anthony’s comments
could only come from the highest decision
making body of the ECCB, the Monetary Union,
which is made up of the Prime Ministers of
the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.
Discuss
Story
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