Supervisors move to improve credit union oversight in Eastern C’bean

THE Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) with financial support from the World Bank has engaged the international consultancy firm of Dave Grace & Associates to aid the single regulatory units in Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines in building the capacity of credit union supervisors.

The first meeting was held via videoconference on November 14, 2012 and the engagement will run through to April 2013.

Credit Unions are important financial intermediaries in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), holding deposits of up to 30 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in some of the ECCU member countries and serving as the primary financial institution for many communities.

The responsibility for the regulation and supervision of credit unions resides with local regulatory authorities in the respective countries. The objective of this programme is to strengthen the capacity of the regulators responsible for the credit union sector in the six ECCU member countries, thereby enabling such institutions to further their economic impact in communities.

The programme will focus on the development of a harmonised on-site supervisory manual, improving the reporting mechanisms for credit unions, training supervisors through a week-long workshop and conducting joint inspections with national level supervisors.

The credit unions in the Eastern Caribbean are some of the most systemically important financial co-operatives to their national economies that can be found around the world. The World Bank and the ECCB look forward to the successful outcome of the consultancy.