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**Buzzbomb** » 2011-09-21 10:32

Sir Dwight's vision for more power and needless corporatization of the Eastern Caribbean's financial system comes a step closer with the endorsment of the leader of a volcano ravaged island. Okay.
Just great, if you like power grabs.
A more rigorous and diciplined banking charter would be a much better option than consolidation and decentralizatio n of management.

**Dig It** » 2011-09-20 22:03

John, I am sorry if I "totally misread." Thanks for clarifying! Enjoy your posts! You are right, Tobi does a point! Anyway, I leave you with one of my favorite quote from Macbeth: "I have no spur to ** the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself, and falls on the other."

**John French II** » 2011-09-20 20:31

Notes From A Native Son Of The Rock. That Sir Dwight is enamoured by the Canadian Banking System can be seen in his writings and speeches. No question there. They have resiliently been by far the best regulated Banking system as was seen after the crash of 2008. He has followed their development and wishes to emulate their success. That the Red Rabble Rouser Senator fully understood was not my concern which as you can see in the previous comments I too also fully understood. He was not getting the right traction due to the manner he was presenting the Case. Many a lawyer has lost a case which was a slam dunk due to "Style". Visit my discussions on "the Concept of Patriotism Versus Enemy" to more fully understand the dialectic. In essence Sir Dwight is putting a spin of centralized versus decentralized system as against IDB. The Banks who do not wish to be caught in this Equity Position will need to look at the suggestion offered by Tobi who sees the inevitable and offers the pathway to Credit Unions. A similar Canadian Experience. This will now open the equity position to all Nationals. Follow The Money! Go Well Brother! Keep Hope Alive! Respect.

**Antiguan Youth** » 2011-09-20 20:12

Sen. Lennox Weston, right again.

**John French II** » 2011-09-20 19:55

Notes From A native Son Of the Rock. Here is wha I said in @ Tenman - A Creative Business Spin For Firing: "Follow the Money"! "Research"! "Focus"! seem to get up an run away from us when things exciting and impending confront us. How many revisted the ECCB's Website to review its intruments? How many reviewed its Monetary Reserves and how in particular A&B from a healthy situation was in steady decline. Did they follow the various strategic pronouncements from Sir Dwight? And closer to home, how many visited ECAB - have we been cleverly lulled into slumber by the last two letters AB? That ABIB was in a dire situation is settled. At that time of the rescue I suggested, and took a beating, "In addition to the stringent statutory reserve requirement on Banks. the Central Bank may wish to consider financing Governments Debts of the OECS. ... The use of the ECCB to finance public debt would make OECS monetary policy substantially different from the “free-market” ideology which is crippling us. ... We must think outside the Box and Push the Limits Prudently. ... we need Statemen who will have recognized the Benefits of using the ECCB to its fullest Potential."

**John French II** » 2011-09-20 19:11

Notes From A Native Son Of The Rock. Oy! Oy! Ay a yi! Dig it, you have totally misread. First rather than FDI, I tout IDI - Indigenous Development Initiative. My recent comments: can be found
http://www.caribarena.com/antigua/news/latest/98329-pm-predicts-end-to-economic-decline.html Sir K Dwight Venner, noted that banks such as Scotiabank that have experienced growth in the past has been able to do so as a result of amalgamations, mergers and acquisitions. “It is impossible to grow one’s deposit base organically without absorbing or joining with others over a short period of time, and this has been the history of banking over a long period of time in every country we are aware of,” Forgive our Politicos. We are doomed by the Bureaucrats. Have Mercy Pon Us! If PT2 of Demas - Encourage Self Help clouded the issue, I apologize for my flippancy in the use of Salute & Tribute. The Romans always exacted a Tribute from those they had Conquered. In rescuing two A&B Banks, Sir Dwight was going to exact his Tribute. That many may have missed the spirit and intent of the language is not a casus belli.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribute

**CountryMan** » 2011-09-20 17:40

A merger makes all the scene in the world but not right now when many of the OECS banks balance sheet is weak. Inquiring about the capital structure is a reasonable question. Were ABIB be forced to merge at this time its shareholders would probably be wiped out. Lets clean up the balance sheets and negotiate from strength rather than when you are on your duff.

**Dig It** » 2011-09-20 15:17

Tenman, my friend, for all my time blogging on this forum, I never seen you "mixed" on any issue! You have always been the "open-batsman" on these forum, and bring the best out in others! Please don't freeze on us now (LOL). I must say I would like to hear from John French on this one, since he has commented numerous times on the matter! I just hope he and the Senator can now see eye to eye! Anyway, I am not a big fan of this Amalgamation of the indigenous banks because like fnpsr, I believe more regulartory controls need to put in place to protect the stakeholders! In this way, barrowing caps should be given to the government, so they would stop barrow beyond their means! Also, the struggling small businesses would benefit greatly when more honey is left for them! In that, Sir Dwight is a good man, and wants the best for the region! As a fan of OECS, I will always support him. Yet, this is where he and I fundamentally disagree, when it comes to merger of the banks. It always come down to: who will get the lion's share of the profits! :lol:

**tenman** » 2011-09-20 13:53

fnpsr, probably not clear but the issue I am mixed on is whether we really need to have these banks merge. I just wonder that if you have this large entity, if it would be so removed from the clients that it would start not caring about what it used their moneys for. Will we then start hearing arguments like too big to fail?
..

**Tobi** » 2011-09-20 13:46

Only a matter of time. Give the banks competition and use credit unions.

**tenman** » 2011-09-20 13:29

fnpsr I am mixed on this issue. If there is a holding company which owns the bank and other non banking entities, I see no problem once proper management is in place. One of the strengths of a company like GE is that its interests are diverse. I recall during by fiance cl** being told that the key to good portfolio is diversification . Looking specifically at ABIB they were not diversified because they ended up in companies which would be highly affected by a down turn in tourism.
..

**Observer Overseas** » 2011-09-20 13:10

If local banks - not just the indigenous ones - want to improve operating efficiency, a good place to start is by consolidating cash machines (ATM's) so that depositors can access funds from a common network of terminals. Then we wont have the ridiculous situations like that existing at Epicurean where there are four (or is it five?) cash points. I am not a banker but it should not take a genius to see the inefficiencies (cost) and inconvenience of what exists currently. After all, these machines are not made in the Caribbean. Another initiative would be increased penetration of debit cards, with transactions accepted by all merchants, irrespective of issuing bank. That too cant be rocket science as it is done in most countries. Maybe if the banks and ECCB look for ways to improve convenience to depositors instead short term measures to improve their individual balance sheets, they would find the answers they are looking for.

**fnpsr** » 2011-09-20 11:58

I don’t think you need amalgamation. What I think you need is proper regulatory controls, proper annual audits, timely financial statements and reports and a board that is looking out for the depositors and are not there to rubber stamp what the management staff wants to do. Banks should be restricted to their core business, i.e., banking. The problem with ABI is that it got away from its core business and got to big for its britches. It used depositors’ monies to expand into other areas, which probably did not produce any profits, and no one saw any financial reports about those operations. If the ECCB was doing its job it would have been questioning the propriety of those investments and we would probably not be in the position we are in today. The Stanford Bank was a special situation and amalgamation was probably the order of the day. Here the ECCB stepped in to protect depositors. However, if the FSRC was doing its job and was not in bed with Stanford, things might have been different. What it appears to me is that the sharks smell blood and they are circling.

“Let’s fix the little things before we attempt to fix the big things.”

**Morris** » 2011-09-20 08:56

Good questions. Would be great to hear the responses, but let's not hold our breath.

**PeterPan** » 2011-09-20 08:38

Don't fix it if it's not broken.
We'll only regret it.

**Towerhill** » 2011-09-20 07:44

Mr. Meade this concept is not new and has been banded about by the indigenous banks for years. At the core is the issue of ownership. Which entity is the benfactor? Is it an OECS or (Indigenous organization) or is it Trinidadian? What would the capital structure of these oganizations look like? Would the banks be truly indigenous in the end? Is it only Antiguan banks that are been targeted? A number of other regional operations are struggling. Would we be moving from to big to fail to too bigger to fail. Does the central bank possess the talent pool and skill sets to govern such an operation?

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