Spotlight on Barbados’ Financial System

Barbados’ financial system will be under the spotlight when the Central Bank of Barbados and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) team up to host a roundtable discussion entitled “Health Check: Barbados’ Financial Services Sector” on Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. the event will be livestreamed on the Central Bank’s Facebook page.

During the hourlong forum, Carlon Walkes, Senior Economist at the Central Bank, and Melissa Burrowes, Economist at the FSC, as well as some of the major players in Barbados’ financial services sector – Donna Wellington, President of the Barbados Bankers’ Association; Hally Haynes, President of the Barbados Cooperative Credit Union League; and Raoul Williams, Vice President, Individual Life Insurance Administration at Sagicor Life Inc. – will discuss the findings of the recently published 2018 Financial Stability Report.

“The Financial Stability Report is a very important document, one that contains information that is relevant to all of us,” said Novaline Brewster, Chief of Corporate Communications at the Central Bank. “If you have an account at a commercial bank or credit union, if you invest or have insurance, if you have a pension plan, then there is something in the report that you should know. This roundtable will let people hear from both the regulators, who produced the document, and officials from several of the entities.”

Brewster, who will co-host the forum alongside Professor Winston Moore, a professor of Economics and Deputy Principal of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, previewed some of what viewers can expect. “We’ll be looking at how local economic conditions and specifically last year’s debt restructuring affected the financial sector as well as sector-specific issues such as interest rates and non-performing loans. Another area of focus will be the sector’s resilience and its ability to withstand shocks. It’s promises to be an interesting and substantive session that will add to the already valuable information in the FSR, so we encourage everyone to log on and watch.”