Regional bodies working together to fight fraud

FOUR entities in the Caribbean responsible for the non-bank financial sector have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will ensure even greater levels of due diligence are in place to thwart any illegal activity from taking root in the countries they represent.

Chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Sir Frank Alleyne, speaking just before he and officials of the securities regulators in Jamaica, Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean signed a MOU for the exchange of information and co-operation and consultation at the FSC’s Warrens office, in Barbados, maintained that the scams that have taken place across the world have occurred because of a lack of due diligence. To that end, he contended that in this region, efforts must be made to ensure that the fallout from such scams will become a thing of the past.

CEO of the Financial Services Commission, Warrican Ward (left),
signing the MOU for the exchange of information and co-operation
and consultation between four entities in the Caribbean responsible
for the non-bank financial sector, while watched by Professor Patrick
Watson, Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and
Exchange Commission (second from left); Executive Director of
FSC Jamaica, Janice Holness; and Chairman of the Financial Services
Commission (FSC), Sir Frank Alleyne, during the ceremony last week Wednesday.

“Whether countries are large or small, we have to collaborate if we are going to protect the public interest… We have to protect investors; there must be confidence; they must have a certain level of confidence when they put their resources in a particular enterprise. The commission is integral … to ensuring that the information which is made available to the investing public is accurate and is reliable,” he said.


With that in mind, he said while only four entities have signed the MOU to date, this is only the first step for the Caribbean Group of Securities Regulators and the other members will sign in due course. The group, which was set up following a meeting of the Council of the Securities Regulators of America in 2002, seeks to provide a forum to discuss and resolve regulatory issues important to the Caribbean securities market development and regulation.

Chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC),
Sir Frank Alleyne.

Sir Frank explained that the MOU is very specific in terms of the steps which have to be taken as it relates to requests for information.

“We are entering this agreement because we are confident from our experience that we can trust one another; that is critical. We have full confidence in Barbados, that if we contact our partners in Jamaica, in the OECS, in Trinidad in Tobago, in Guyana, that what we will receive is full support, complete due diligence and they will assist us because they know that by assisting Barbados or assisting the OECS, they are helping themselves,” the chairman added.

Meanwhile, Professor Patrick Watson, Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission, said that through the MOU, the commissions will be able to better scrutinise people looking to invest in the region, and they are obliged to share information about those investors.

“Not every investor is a scammer … but you have to look out for them and they do like to take advantage of our jurisdictions for things like money laundering. We are all part of a money laundering league, we have all signed into legislation in our own jurisdictions; we are committed to it. But we do want to encourage legitimate investors, who just as we are afraid of the scammers, so too are they,” Watson indicated.

Watson explained that when persons invest in an entity, they want assurance that their money is safe and will not disappear because of loose regulations in a country, and the MOU provides that assurance for them. (JRT)