Caribbean CBI countries will soon announce ‘Interim Regulatory Commission’

Caribbean: The Five Caribbean CBI jurisdictions will soon appoint a new “Interim Regulatory Commission” to establish an independent regional regulator. The commission will regulate and supervise the programmes and take corrective actions for their enhancement through the regulator to maintain the international standards.

The decision was taken during the 3^rd US-Caribbean Roundtable on Citizenship by Investment on August 29, 2024. The roundtable was held between the delegation of the five Caribbean CBI countries and the United States Department of the Treasury in Grenada. The discussion in the roundtable revolved around several key factors about the Citizenship by Investment Programmes of five Caribbean countries.

The progress report was shared by the CBI jurisdictions in the Roundtable on the Six CBI Principles, outlining that four of them have been implemented by the heads of these Caribbean governments.

The first principle featuring the establishment of the collective agreement on treatment of denials in which the governments agreed not to process applications from persons who have faced denial in any of the five CBI courtiers.

The second principle of mandatory interviews for the CBI applicants has also been implemented by the countries. As per the third principle, the CBI units should run checks on each application with the Financial Intelligence Unit of the relevant country, which has also come into force.

The CBI countries have also suspended processing of the application from Russians and Belarusians as stated in the 6^th principle in the column “Treatment of Russians and Belarusians.”

Notably, the Six CBI Principles were agreed to by Caribbean Heads of Government in February 2023. The heads agreed to implement these principles to enhance the governance of the CBI and maintain its global integrity.

The implementation of these four principles was lauded by the US Department as these efforts were made along with other regional initiatives. The step of the signing of Memorandum of Agreement by all CBI countries was welcomed by the United State delegations.

The attendees have also agreed to take proper and concrete measures for the implementation of these principles and noted that the regional efforts are necessary for enhancing the programmes.

The countries were represented by the Chairs, CEOs, technical staff from the CBI Programmes, while the delegation of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank was represented by Governor Timothy Antoine.

Director General Dr Didacus Jules was also present in the roundtable discussion from the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Commission. The delegation of the US Treasury Department was represented Warren Ryan who also co-chaired the roundtable along with Governor Antonie.

Notably, the first roundtable was held in St Kitts and Nevis in February 2023 and the second was held in Miami in October 2023.