Antigua and Barbuda Embassy in US Press Release) Representatives of the governments of the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) had a fully-attended Roundtable meeting on Tuesday November 19 with members of the U.S. Congress and senior representatives of major U.S. banks, concerning the effects of de-risking and the withdrawal of correspondent banking relations (CBRs).
The Roundtable was first proposed by Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, at last July’s meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government. Since then, Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the U.S., Sir Ronald Sanders, worked with Congresswoman, Maxine Waters, as Chair of the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives to make it a reality.
Senior Bankers from six major U.S. Banks and U.S. Congress persons gathered with a delegation representing CARICOM at Capitol Hill in Washington, under the Chairmanship of Congresswoman Waters.
The CARICOM team was led by Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister who is the lead Head of Government on financial matters. Mr Browne told the meeting that the Caribbean and the U.S. have “a mutuality of interests” which necessitated each side displaying active concern about the well-being of the other, including security. In this regard, the Prime Minister argued that the process of de-risking which has led to a withdrawal of relations by some U.S. banks from Caribbean banks, poses a serious threat to the region’s welfare, including its capacity to import goods from the U.S., which totalled over US$13 billion last year, and is set to exceed this figure this year.
Representatives of the U.S. banks indicated that they recognise that value of CBRs, not only in financial terms, but in the critical role it plays in global trade, investment and other…
