Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, Mr. Evans McNiel Rogers and
Mr. Cardigan Connor
Anguilla’s Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr. Victor Banks, told reporters following discussions with ECCB and other officials earlier this week in St. Kitts, that his Government had reached a position where it could pass the Banking Bill 2015 in the House of Assembly on Thursday, November 19, after the second and third readings.
“At the end of the deliberations, I think we have come to a place where we can move forward very quickly on a resolution,” Mr. Banks stated at an Anguilla Government’s press conference on Wednesday afternoon, November 18. “Therefore, I am encouraged that within a very short period we will be able to put all of our ducks in a row so that we can finally come to a place where the banking stabilising process can start in earnest. That means that tomorrow we will be going to the House of Assembly for the second and third readings of the Bill. I believe we should get the unanimous support of the House, but I am only anticipating what the Leader of the Opposition may have gathered from her experience at the ECCB…”
Mr. Banks continued: “One of the things I have asked the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s administrative staff to do is to contact my colleagues in the Monetary Council and ask them to instruct their legal departments to come together to agree on a date very early next year – hopefully in January – to discuss all the proposed amendments or concerns put forward by the various agencies in Anguilla.” He said the concerns of Anguilla would also be included among those expressed by persons in Antigua (which has already passed the Banking Bill and the Asset Management Corporation Act) and Montserrat. He explained that his call for the meeting was made in his capacity as Chairman of the Monetary Fund “on issues of concern not only to Anguilla but to other member states of the Currency Union.”
The Chief Minister said that once the Banking Bill was passed in the Anguilla House of Assembly, he would not seek immediate assent by the Governor. “I will not ask the Governor to assent to the Bill tomorrow or Friday,” he stated. “I will give an opportunity for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to continue their work on looking at the resolution because they have expressed concern that they have not been able to spend enough time to look at all aspects of the resolution and come to conclusions where they were comfortable that Anguilla would be in a good position as a result of what has been proposed. If I were to send it to the Governor for assent, she would not have all the information…”
Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, Minister of Home Affairs, who was one of the delegation members accompanying Mr. Banks, delivered a letter at the ECCB meeting. It contained references to a number of concerns expressed at a workshop she held with a number of persons as well as other views and suggestions gleaned from the series of public consultations.
Now that the Banking Bill has been presented in the House of Assembly, the House will meet again, next week, to consider the Asset Management Corporation Bill – another piece of draft ECCB legislation with a view to its passage.
