PM Browne heads delegation to US/CARICOM correspondent banking talks

Preventing the loss of Correspondent Banking Relations (CBR) remains a top agenda item for the government of Antigua and Barbuda and the rest of the Region as a delegation peruses the matter during consultations between Caribbean and US authorities in Jamaica.

The delegation, led by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Gaston Browne, is currently at the consultation in Jamaica, dubbed Caribbean Public Private Dialogue on CBR.

The meeting will attract representatives from several Caribbean nations and will allow Regional banks to discuss the controls desired of them with US authorities.

Yesterday, Browne’s statements on the consultation were circulated in a press release from the Office of the Prime Minister.

“I intend to forcefully put forward CARICOM’s position on this matter to the US authorities because I believe we are being treated unfairly,” the communiqué said.

“We have been labelled as tax havens and accused of lax tax regimes and avenues for money laundering and terrorism financing, yet there is absolutely no evidence to support these allegations … In all instances where banks and financial institutions have to pay penalties on such matters, not one CARICOM nation has ever been involved. This cannot be right – it cannot be just.”