Caribbean L 12 ife, OCTOBER 25-31, 2019 BQ
US Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister
Gaston Browne. Gov’t of Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua PM speaks to
correspondent banking
By Nelson A. King
In a packed two-day visit to Washington,
D.C., Antigua and Barbuda Prime
Minister Gaston Browne has told US
banking agencies that the provision of
correspondent banking relations (CBRs)
to Caribbean banks by global banks in
the US is “as important to the US as it is
to the Caribbean.”
An Antigua and Barbuda Government
statement on Wednesday said that
US banks have been withdrawing CBRs
from Caribbean banks over the last few
years, “posing the possibility of de-banking
the region and excluding it from the
global trading and financial system.”
“In some Caribbean countries, the
number of US banks providing CBRs
has been reduced to as low as one,” the
statement said.
In his capacity as the prime minister,
with lead responsibility for financial
services matters in the quasi-Cabinet
of Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
Heads of Government, Browne had
“back-to-back” meetings with several
organizations, including the American
Banking Association and The Bankers
Association for Finance and Trade,
according to the statement.
It said Browne emphasized that “a
decline in Caribbean economies, caused
by the loss of CBRs, would create high
levels of unemployment and poverty
that could result in illegal migration
and a flow of economic refugees to the
US.”
Additionally, the prime minister
stressed that, “if the banking system
collapses, the structure of regulatory
control would disappear, forcing financial
transactions underground and
opening pathways for money laundering
and the financing of drugs, guns and
terrorism.”
Browne said that “it is in the interest
of governments, regulators and banks
in the US and the Caribbean to work in
a spirit of cooperation to enhance the
system of providing CBRs, especially in
the management of risk, both financial
and regulatory.”
In his separate discussions with the
banking agencies and leading policyadvisory
think-tanks, including the
Heritage Foundation, the Centre for
Freedom and Prosperity, and the Institute
for Global Economic Growth, the
Antiguan leader proposed pathways “to
ensure that the provision of CBRs continue
and is strengthened,” according to
the statement.
“There was agreement by these agencies
to develop concrete proposals that
could be considered by a Round Table
organized by the Financial Services
Committee of the US House of Representatives
to focus on the Caribbean and
CBRs,” it said.
Accompanied by Antigua and Barbuda’s
Ambassador to the US, Sir Ronald
Sanders, Browne met the chair of
the US House Committee on Financial
Affairs, Congresswoman Maxine Waters,
“to flesh out plans for a Congressional
Round Table in November at which representatives
of leading US banks would
be present,” the statement said.
“Much was accomplished in these
two days in Washington”, Browne said.
“The wheels are set in motion for practical
solutions to this problem.
“I look forward to advancing work
with the US Congress and the American
Bankers’ Association to building a
sound structure for continued provision
of CBRs to the Caribbean in the interest
of our nations and the US,” he added.