ECCB Governor Timothy N. J. Antoine, with Laura A. Griesmer, Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of the United States of America to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean and the OECS
In his first external engagement, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), Timothy N. J. Antoine, met with Laura A. Griesmer, Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of the United States of America to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean and the OECS on 4 February.
During the meeting, the Governor raised the grave concerns in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) about the potential withdrawal of correspondent banking relationships with commercial banks in the ECCU.
The Governor underscored the necessity for resolution of the correspondent banking issue given its far-reaching implications for the ECCU, in particular, the financial sector, the tourism sector, remittances, and education and medical transfers.
Governor Antoine also raised the status of the implementation of the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and sought the assistance of the U.S. Embassy to expedite the signing of the Inter-Governmental Agreements which would facilitate the process for enactment of legislation and timely reporting.
The new Governor in his first video conference, which turned out to be conducted merely as a teleconference also addressed the issue when speaking with the media. “We have to engage our bankers very soon on this issue,” he had said. “The governments will be discussing it at the heads and governments this weekend. We’re going to put our heads together and figure out how we can address this challenge because we need our Currency Union in our region.”
The Governor at that teleconference held with the Union States media on February 1, 2016, had explained the matter from his perspective in some detail saying that it is a very important matter that must be dealt with.
