ewart s williams : anti - money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism address by mr ewart s williams, governor of the central bank of trinidad and tobago, at the 6th annual compliance conference on anti - money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, port - of - spain, 14 january 2010. * * * i would like to thank the caribbean financial action task force ( cfatf ), the ministry of national security, the commonwealth secretariat and the united states embassy of trinidad and tobago for jointly organizing this conference and inviting me to speak. the timing could not be better given the increase attention that the international community is lending to sanctions for non - compliance and given our aspiration to be an international financial centre. money laundering is the process through which the gains derived from criminal activities are made to appear as if they originated from a legitimate source. the events of 9 / 11 highlighted a more threatening dimension of the problem – the use of the financial system to mobilize and direct funds for terrorist activities. in my remarks when i talk about anti - money laundering measures, i also include steps to counter the financing of terrorism. many people don ’ t see money laundering as the serious crime that it is. many people seem not to recognize that money laundering helps to perpetuate the crimes that generated the illegal money. the truth is that money laundering, if successful, makes crime pay. we never rank money laundering with some of the heinous crimes like kidnapping and drug running for instance, not recognizing that very often money laundering keeps the kidnapper / drug runner in business. in addition to the social cost, money laundering poses significant legal and reputational risks. as you know, financial institutions are important catalysts for economic growth and development. accordingly, a sound and strong financial system is vital to our country ’ s growth process. money laundering, however, erodes the integrity of financial institutions by involving them in the proceeds of illegal activity and, in a way, by making them supportive ( albeit unwittingly ) of illegal activity. such a connection can destroy the reputation of an institution but what ’ s worse ; the damage invariably transcends the institution and spreads, with far - reaching consequences, for the country and the region. globalisation, which has brought many benefits, has also increased the risk of money laundering by providing the channel for funds to flow freely across national boundaries. in addition technological advances have provided the locomotive for these funds to reach the most remote countries. over the

ewart s williams : launch of aic mutual funds keynote address by mr ewart s williams, governor of the central bank of trinidad and tobago, at the launch of aic mutual funds, 25 july 2005. * * * thanks to the management of aic financial group limited for inviting me to present the keynote address on the launch of your family of funds, and sincere congratulations on this achievement. these are very exciting times for the financial sector and indeed for the economy of trinidad and tobago. you must have seen that a few days ago, standards and poors raised the country ’ s credit rating from bbb to the coveted a - category. that upgrade has as much to do with the strength of our financial system as with the stance of our macro - economic policies. all over the world, banking is undergoing rapid transformation - firstly, because of the forces of globalisation which have resulted in the elimination of barriers to trade and financial flows ; and secondly, because of advances in information technology which have facilitated the delivery of financial products and services at sharply reduced costs. there is now a worldwide trend towards the formation of larger banking units through mergers and acquisitions, and these larger units are leveraging technology to transform both wholesale and retail financial markets. another dominant trend is the universalisation of banking which is blurring the boundaries between bank and non - banking services. while at a somewhat more measured pace, banking in trinidad and tobago is also undergoing rapid changes. following financial sector liberalisation in the early 1990 ’ s and bolstered by a decade of robust economic growth, our banking system has expanded rapidly and has adopted new products and technologies, as well as many of the strategies of the more mature markets. total assets of the banking system have increased by one and a half times over the past decade. and even with this rapid expansion, the main financial stability indicators have remained very strong. nonperforming loans have come down markedly from 10 percent to just over 2 percent ( close to international standards ), capital adequacy ratios are well above minimum requirements ( as is necessary for a small resource - based economy subject to exogenous shocks ), and banks ’ profitability levels have soared over the last five years or so. some commercial banks have become universal banks offering banking insurance, securities, trading, leasing, and investment management under one roof. the conglomerate model is becoming more commonplace in the financial sector and the larger banks are pursuing aggressive regional growth strategies. regional expansion has provided additional growth opportunities to