Correspondent Banking Crisis – Does it Affect Accountants?

Jasmine Davis

But what are the challenges that correspondent banking relations have posed to the accounting professionals? According to Conference Chair Shawn Mahler, clients have been affected drastically, and it has forced businesses to reduce their earnings or close down because of corresponding banking issues.  I.C.A.C. President Jasmine Davis says that they are looking at different ways to do trading.

Jasmine Davis, President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean

“I think that we in the Caribbean are being impacted by the global rules that have been put in place. For instance FACTA where it is that American citizens are now required to report on all of their investments and saving regardless of where it is housed and I think that that has contributed to the shrinking in the banking and the financial services sector. But how we look at it is this way, we have to take the opportunity to look for new things and new ways of doing things. And while it is that the banking and the financial services sector may have been core business within the Caribbean within the last few decades, we see a shift. So that may no longer be in place. So it is not necessarily reassessing to go ahead and keep and grow the same business, but reassessing to see if we need to ensure that we are looking to other business strategies that are there.”

Shawn Mahler

Reporter

“Locally, as far as Belize is concerned, I am sure that you all have come up with your own recommendations and proposals.”

Shawn Mahler, Chair, Caribbean Conference of Accountants

“We have come up with recommendations and I think that the main area that we see that needs to be addressed is getting the global banks and the US entities to understand that we cannot implement all the rigid practices that they deem…it is too costly. So if we want to implement full FACTA and all the other regulations and anti-money laundering, it will take a significant amount of funding. So they need to be something for you to meet halfway on where you are going to be lenient in certain areas. In the Caribbean, it is not like we are huge countries where…we know each other; we know who our customers are. So it’s not something where you have to do all this lengthy checklist because you know your neighbor. So again, it is looking at dialogue for them to understand our environment and for us to understand what the regulations are trying to achieve.”