The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has launched its first-ever collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enhance beneficial ownership transparency across the Caribbean region.
The initiative, which aims to combat money laundering and sanctions evasion, kicked off with a week-long seminar at ECCB headquarters in St Kitts from October 21 to 25.
The training marked the IMF’s first rollout of this programme in the Caribbean region, following similar sessions in Singapore and Kuwait.
“The IMF plays a very important role in shaping international policies and standards on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism,” explained IMF senior counsel Kathleen Kao during an ECCB Connects interview. “Beneficial ownership is an important component of an effective AML CFT regime.”
Addressing participants, including representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Kao emphasized how corporate entities are often misused for illicit activities.
“As we have seen through various news leaks such as the Panama Papers, corporate vehicles have been misused to hide illicit wealth and proceeds of crime,” she said, noting that such activities “drain public resources” and can “undermine legitimate business operations”.
She also emphasized the critical importance of transparency for international financial centres. “It is very easy for jurisdictions to be misused by illicit actors abroad who are trying to channel their money from an illicit source,” she explained, describing how funds are often “funnelled through layers of corporate vehicles” to obscure their origins.
The IMF’s involvement includes comprehensive support through multiple channels, as Kao outlined: “This is done through several different ways – in our surveillance work… our annual economic health checkup… financial sector assessments where we do a deep dive into a country’s financial sector… and technical assistance support.”
During the training sessions, representatives from Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) countries explored strategies to strengthen their financial monitoring and compliance frameworks.
“What we would hope would happen following the workshop is that members who are in attendance understand better the requirements of the international standard and they can take that back home and help shape policy at home to make their national AML CFT frameworks more effective,” Kao stated.
The IMF has committed to providing technical assistance to countries over several years to improve their legislative frameworks and build capacity to meet Financial Action Task Force regulations.
Kao stressed that maintaining transparency helps safeguard each nation’s reputation as a trusted financial centre, emphasizing that “making sure that economies stay above board and receiving clean money is crucial for international financial centres.”
Looking at the future, Kao expressed hope for expanded regional cooperation: “The ECCU is a trendsetter in inviting us to collaborate on this topic, and I hope that it sets the stage for collaboration in the broader region, the Caribbean region at large, and I hope that we can deepen our engagement and continue to work towards the common goal of increased transparency globally.”
