Prime Minister Mark Phillips yesterday stated that the loss of US correspondent banking, the increase of the unbanked and disruption of the flow of remittances will pose serious threats to the economic and social stability of the Caribbean.
He made the statement while addressing a Caribbean Financial Access round-table in Bridgetown, Barbados.
A statement from his office said that the Prime Minister joined several CARICOM leaders at the meeting and they all voted unanimously to launch an annual US-Caribbean Banking Forum roundtable.
“Madam chair the loss of correspondent banking and the increase of the unbanked is a security challenge to the Caribbean, and I’m happy that we’re discussing this and we have arrived at a position where we will have this annual roundtable to deal with the challenges, it will be an opportunity for us to share ideas and cooperate as we move forward”, he said.
The Prime Minister added that Guyana is particularly keen on increasing correspondent banking as the oil and gas economy will “propel us towards becoming an international financial centre”.
Correspondent banking facilitates country-to-country services and wire transfers among a range of financial transactions. Over the last decade, Guyana and other parts of the Caribbean have suffered an exodus of US correspondent banks because of the perceived risk of being contaminated by money laundering and related financial crimes in these parts. Domestic US legislation has assigned stiff penalties for such occurrences. The loss of the correspondent banking has created impediments to businesses and the Caribbean has frequently raised this problem with US governments and legislators.
The statement from the Prime Minister’s office said that Guyana’s participation in the one-day roundtable on de-risking and correspondent banking came at the request of Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley.
In a letter to President Irfaan Ali, Mottley cited the importance of Guyana’s participation.
“This encounter will provide the ideal opportunity for us to engage with major players in the financial services industry in order to find solutions for these intractable issues.”
She added that Guyana’s “presence will definitely be very instrumental and important in addressing the myriad of problems associated with these issues”.
Phillips met with Mottley and Chairwoman of the US House Financial Services Committee, Californian Congresswoman Maxine Waters on Tuesday.
He was also expected to take part in a meeting with the CARICOM Heads of Government and a Special US Envoy led by US State representative Waters last evening.
Other regional leaders at the event included: the President of Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi; the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley; the Prime Minister of Belize, John Antonio Briceño; the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit; the Prime Minister of Grenada, Keith Mitchell; the Prime Minister of St Lucia, Philip Pierre and the Premier of the Cayman Islands, Wayne Panton along with Ministerial representatives from Jamaica and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
