Caribbean Banks Under Pressure From US To Combat Money Laundering

by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York

28 November 2005

Caribbean banks have been coming under increasing pressure from the US authorities to ensure that systems are in place to prevent money laundering, terror financing and other financial crime since the September 11 terrorist attacks, Caribbean Net News reports.

This was one of the key issues which emerged at the Caribbean Association of Indigenous Banks (CAIB) meeting in Grand Cayman earlier in the month.

According to the report, Caribbean banks have been under constant pressure from the US government to implement new banking measures to fight money laundering, counterfeit fraud and terrorism, a fact that Hanzel Manners, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the CAIB, observed was stretching the operating budgets of many institutions.

“There have been great demands on the banks since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US. The banks have been forced to raise the bar against terrorism, money laundering and counterfeit currency fraud and this is impacting on their operations and budgets,” Mr Manners noted.

He added that demands placed on US banks have been filtered down to Caribbean banks, including the homegrown ones.

“The US has been pressuring their banks and their banks in turn pressure our regional banks to put certain systems in place, buy expensive equipment and software in the fight against these crimes,” he stated.

Recommended