By all accounts, it would appear that the banking resolution of 2016 has raised much interest among Anguilla’s general public, and a report on that resolution, which the public has not yet received, was a hot-button issue in the Government’s press conference on Monday, January 18th.
The Caribbean Commercial Bank (Anguilla) Limited (CCB) and the National Bank of Anguilla Limited (NBA) were placed under conservatorship in August 2013, with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank assuming control.
The issue of the banking report came to the fore when, during the press briefing, the following question was asked by The Daily Herald’s correspondent, Dawn Hodge: “Before Christmas, there was some talk about the banking report, and everyone was looking forward to see it… A suggestion was made that at least a sanitised version could be distributed for the public’s viewing. Would such a report be forthcoming?”
The Premier answered: “The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has stipulated that the banking report is confidential. The ECCB stated that the report cannot be released to the public in the form that it is in, or even as a redacted version. The Banking Act of 2015 that was passed in the House – the passage of which the people of Anguilla attempted to prevent – has basically given the ECCB certain immunity.”
He went on: “I have had specific instructions not to release the report. However, one of the things that I said I would do is to formulate a summary and bring that to the people of Anguilla. In it, we would not be in a position to use anybody’s name or use any specifics that would indicate individuals’ identities. But I think I can tell the people of Anguilla that transactions happened in the banks that were not in line with acceptable banking principles, and such transactions bordered on being unlawful.”
The Premier mentioned that Anguilla was now saddled with certain responsibilities as a result of the bank’s actions: “We are obligated to pay to Social Security $214 million; to the high-end depositors we ought to pay $52 million; we have an obligation to pay back to Caribbean Development Bank an amount of $59 million; and to pay some $20 million which is owed to ECCB itself for the banking resolution. This is a $245 million ticket that we have to pay for. Our children and their children will be bound by this responsibility to pay.”
“It is unconscionable that this occurred,” the Premier said. “I really do not like that my hands are tied. However, there are laws and restrictions that are there that I am being held to, from preventing the release of this report. The general gist as to what happened with regard to the bank’s management, though, will be released.”
KCN’s Executive Producer, Carlton Pickering, asked the following: “There are recordings that indicate that the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and the Chief Minister of Anguilla made a promise to release the banking report to the public. Why would laws now mitigate that release when the people need to know the contents of that report? How can people have confidence now in the banking system?”
The Premier replied: “I wrote a letter to our former governor asking him why. I got a letter back from him, and the legal department, stating the position of the bank’s immunity. I also took the matter to the Caribbean’s Monetary Council where all eight Ministers of Finance give advice on issues like this. I was informed by them, as well, that I could not release the report as it is, but that I could, in a general statement, make a summary. I was indeed warned by them that there would be consequences if any proprietary information, confidential to the bank, is released.”
– Staff Reporter, James R. Harrigan
