Amendments to Eastern Caribbean Asset Management Corporation Bill passed

The Lower House of Parliament has approved changes to the Eastern Caribbean Asset Management Corporation Bill (ECAMC), to ensure it does not conflict with the controversial Banking Act of 2015 and the Central Bank requirements that deals with receivership and liquidation.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne moved the motion in yesterday’s sitting. “This amendment corrects
the previous oversight by making the ECAMC subject to the provisions of the Banking Act as it relates to part two- receivership and compulsory liquidation. And section 178 maintaining the secrecy of information,” Browne said.
The ECAMC bill is being enacted to deal with financial institutions that are facing difficulties and will give the Eastern Caribbean Asset Management Corporation, the power to manage their assets and liabilities with the hope of cleaning up the banks and putting them back in circulation in a positive manner.
According to regional legislators, the ECMAC must be set up so that work which has started at the
commercial banks intervened in the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) can proceed seamlessly.
Each member state of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) will have to pass the legislation at some point. The amendments were passed without debate.
The Standards Act 2017, to provide for the preparation and promotion of Standards in relation to goods, services, processes and practices by the establishment and operation of the Antigua & Barbuda Bureau of Standards, was also passed when the House of Assembly met yesterday.