Enill: Caricom to benefit from TT financial reform

MINISTER in the Ministry of Finance, Conrad Enill, said the entire Caricom region would benefit from ongoing financial reform in Trinidad and Tobago and Government’s vision to develop TT into a Pan-Caribbean financial centre. Addressing the opening of the Caribbean Centre for Monetary Studies’ (CCMS) 36th Annual Monetary Studies Conference at the Central Bank Auditorium yesterday, the minister said TT has emerged as Caricom’s financial centre over the last three years and “many of the regional governments have looked to our capital market to raise finance.” Recalling that Government recently published a white paper on local financial reform, Enill said Government’s vision was to create a Pan-Caribbean financial centre, encompassing the entire group of Association of Caribbean States (ACS) nations.

Identifying an efficient payments system and a strong and prudential regulatory infrastructure as key components of this centre, Enill declared, “This centre would ultimately provide a wide array of financial products and services to meet the needs of domestic, regional and international business in both the public and private sector. It would therefore redound not only to the benefit of TT, but to the Caricom region as a whole.” The minister said in order for the region to benefit both from this centre and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) “We must ensure that the regional financial system is robust enough to withstand all the attendant challenges and pressures that are likely to emerge.”

Enill indicated there were several ongoing initiatives to strengthen and improve regional financial systems. He identified the harmonisation of the regional supervisory framework and the Caricom Secretariat initiative of a model Caribbean banking legislation as two of the initiatives. Noting that banks such as RBTT and First Caribbean (of Barbados) each conduct business in several Caribbean jurisdictions, the minister said, “It is urgent therefore that the harmonisation project be completed by December 2005 in time for the establishment of the CSME. In the absence of legislation, information sharing is now an integral element of supervisory practices.”

Enill said the impetus for Caribbean financial sector reform dated back to 1997 and was influenced by factors such as the Asian/Russian/Mexican financial crises and the introduction of anti-money laundering guidelines and the combating of anti-terrorism financing in the aftermath of September 11 2001. Government will soon bring tough anti-terrorism legislation to Parliament in the form of the Anti-Terrorism Bill 2004. While noting the “fairly robust” state of the local economy over the last decade, Enill stressed, “If we want to maintain our present position, we need to strengthen even further our regulatory environment, build a modern payments system and develop where necessary those institutions which are critical to the functioning of any modern financial system.” In his remarks, Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams urged the CCMS “to see itself as part of policy-making in the region.”