PM to make historic appearance

Prime Minister Mia Mottley will on Wednesday present a case for authorities in Washington to take decisive action to fix the damage caused to Caribbean economies by the loss of correspondent banking.

In a historic appearance before the full committee of the United States House Committee on Financial Services, Mottley will become the first Prime Minister in near four decades to testify before the American Congress at a hearing entitled, When Banks Leave: The Impact of De-Risking on the Caribbean and Strategies for Ensuring Financial Access.

The hearing stems from The Roundtable Discussion on De-Risking held in Barbados in April this year, which brought together Caribbean leaders, other regional high-level officials, and US representatives led by Congresswoman Maxine Waters who heads the US House Committee on Financial Services.

In recent years, Caribbean countries have been grappling to cope with large foreign financial institutions scaling back or terminating their relationships with banks in the region, thus making it significantly more difficult to do business and obtain financial services.

The Bridgetown meeting identified concrete steps to address de-risking. These included providing technical assistance for legal and regulatory harmonisation; supporting a consortium bank pilot project for the region; creating programmes to encourage small- and medium-sized banks to offer correspondent banking services; and formalising an annual US-Caribbean Banking Forum to discuss these issues.

Wednesday’s hearing will be chaired by Congressman Waters who will also hear from the Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Association of Banks Wendy Delmar, and Wazim Mohamed Mowla, Assistant Director and Lead of the Caribbean Initiative, Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, Atlantic Council.

Wayne Shah, Senior Vice President, Financial Institutions – Head of Caribbean Region, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and Executive Director, Financial & International Business Association (FIBA); Amit Sharma, CEO, Founder, and Director, FinClusive Liat Shetret, Director of Global Policy and Regulation, Elliptic, will also argue the region’s case at the hearing set to begin 10 a.m. (SD/PR)