Just the other day someone sent an email to The Anguillian with an unrelated footnote that read: Be gentle with people. Everyone’s bruised. That is one of the most profound and truthful statements in times like these when Anguilla is caught in the grip of an unfortunate banking situation and related matters including rumours, accusations, and unfair, degrading and mischievous verbal attacks, of one kind or another, on certain individuals. In a few descriptive words, there is gross disunity in Anguilla. The banking situation, which began with the ECCB’s conservatorship of our two local banks in August, 2013, has been the most challenging experience and malady to visit Anguilla since the island’s 1967 Revolution and the 1969 British occupation.
If we may digress for a while, our turbulent social and political history since colonisation, and some fifty years after settlement, is well-documented. The 17th and 18th centuries saw violent attacks on Anguilla by Indians, French marauders, Spanish incursions, a band of ‘Wild Irish’, and other invaders, and the gallantry with which we rose to the occasions, defended ourselves and overcame. Similarly, the several petitions for separation from St. Kitts since the annexation of Anguilla in 1825 and, of course, the eventual 1967 Anguilla Revolution and the formal separation of Anguilla in 1980, are all huge highlights of our pride and determination, and the unity and resilience it took to succeed.
The establishment of our two indigenous banks was an important symbol of our post-revolutionary efforts to take control of an important sector of our development in support of our political and economic objectives. The wholly locally-owned private Caribbean Commercial Bank (Anguilla) Ltd, with a small number of shareholders, was established in 1976 and in 2008 opened the now closed West Branch in Lower South Hill. The National Bank of Anguilla Ltd, which had mass shareholder ownership from among the rank and file of the Anguillian community, at home and abroad, was formed in 1984. The bank began operations in 1985 when it acquired the Anguilla branch of the Bank of America National Trust & Savings Association. Like CCB, NBA opened its West Branch in 2008, now also closed. Both CCB and NBA not only embarked on providing some of the best state-of-the-art banking services over the years, but also established offshore subsidiary companies, providing financial services to offshore clients worldwide. The actual position of each of the two offshore companies has now also become an issue of concern. This substantially arises from the fact that both commercial banks are no longer in operation, and from their demise, a new institution – the National Commercial Bank of Anguilla – has emerged. What linkages and other corresponding banking services the new bank will develop later on, may be among matters for consideration.
The new single Government-owned bank took over the operations of CCB and NBA on Monday this week, April 25, after a long period of difficult talks involving the Anguilla and British Governments, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. The fact that this high level of partnership is involved in the resolution process should inspire confidence and hope among our people for the success, not failure, of the new bank. The requisite enabling legislation has already been passed and approved; and other arrangements have been finalised including the appointment of a Receiver of the banks; the appointment of a Board of seven Directors –three from Anguilla – and the other four from outside the island; and the setting up of the Eastern Caribbean Asset Management Corporation as a holding facility for delinquent loans. It is also important to mention, however, that the over 100 employees who collectively managed and staffed the two former banks, are on a month-to-month employment basis for the next three months pending further decision as may be necessary. The hope is that as many of them as possible will be retained.
Anguilla may still be at the crossroads with respect to its banking sector, and everything must be done to ensure its success. In order to guarantee this, what should we do as a people who valiantly fought off the unscrupulous invaders of our island during the early years of our history, who won the long struggle for constitutional and political separation from St. Kitts and who are now facing this new financial and economic challenge? It may be that the worst has passed, to some extent, but one must admit that the future is still very much uncertain and perhaps foreboding. We must therefore not fold our arms in despair, but do something about the situation.
This is what we should do: pick up all the pieces of our shredded domestic banking situation and see how we can best cope with the enormous challenges confronting us, and support the positive efforts and escapes that are being put into place by those in authority. In addition, we must give our unflinching support to those of our own people, and others, who have taken on the Herculean tasks of actually leading the process and we as a people to a position of financial security, solidarity and sustainability. We must not doubt our own resolve and ability to overcome these difficult challenges. It is the same spirit of bravery and determination we employed during our early and modern history that we must now summon and engage. In order to succeed in these trying times, as we did in the difficult past, it calls for unity, trust and resilience among our people. Those must be our watchwords as we move forward in faith, hope and prayer.
