One of the more serious issues dealt with during the virtual meeting of the Anguilla United Front Government on Tuesday evening, June 2, related to the National Commercial Bank of Anguilla.
Premier Victor Banks was at the time responding to statements he attributed to Mr. Kennedy Hodge, an island-wide candidate of the Anguilla Progressive Movement during a Radio Anguilla interview.
Following were his comments:
“Permit me to mention the aspiring APM Government because one of their major plans was exposed on radio the other day. And I want to mention the APM on this occasion because I don’t like to really talk too much about my opponents.
“But this particular plan is most concerning to me – and a number of members mentioned it on this platform tonight. It is most concerning to me because I consider the banking resolution to be one of the most transformational achievements of the AUF Government in the past five
years. I heard this from the lips of someone who is touted to be the shadow Minister of Finance of the APM Party and that is Mr. Kennedy Hodge.
“Mr. Kennedy Hodge promised on a programme that he will get rid of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and place the local banks under the Financial Services Commission; and two, he said that he will split the NCBA into two banks, namely: the former NBA and the former CCB.
“My friends, fellow Anguillians, my people: this can be described as nothing less than a recipe for disaster – probably a disaster that is worse than the disaster we met in 2015 when we came to office. We must ask ourselves what would this mean for us, as Anguillians, and for
our banks, especially our indigenous banking sector. Firstly, a suggestion coming from the shadow Minister of Finance to place local banks under the Financial Services Commission is confusing because it would be tantamount to placing the banks under the control of the British Government – because they are responsible for finance . It is the same British Government that this shadow Minister likes to curse and accuse of wrong-doing. Secondly, to undo the resolution or divide the bank and create two new banks – because that is what they would be is a complex exercise and one that will surely impact all the depositors of the new NCBA Bank. And thirdly, what we really need to consider here is why does the APM so hell-bent on literally destroying our local bank that they were unable to fix in the first place?
“Could the answer lie in the fact that there are members of the APM that believe that they would be in a better position if the banks were destroyed – and the customers of the bank lose their hard-earned deposits? Or can it be that a number of APM supporters believe that their non-performing loans will disappear and their collateral will be returned to them if the NCBA is disrupted? These are serious questions. Think about it fellow Anguillians. Such an APM move on the NCBA will not be about you, but about many of them.
“We must avoid, fellow Anguillians, the potential damage to the NCBA and your interest – and,we must do everything in our power to ensure that the AUF team that restored stability in the indigenous banking sector is returned to Government. I feel strongly that if there is one reason why the APM platform should be rejected it is that it does not seem to mean well for the stability of our indigenous banking sector.
“If there was ever a time that Anguilla needed continuity in Government, that time is now.”
