delisle worrell : improving international business and financial services in barbados opening remarks by dr delisle worrell, governor of the central bank of barbados, at the international business 101 seminar, sponsored by the central bank of barbados, the barbados bar association and gwp associates, bridgetown, 17 november 2012. * * * barbados has always been a society and economy oriented to the outside world, from the beginning of its recorded history, but the terms of our engagement with the rest of the world have changed in fundamental ways in the 21st century. for all of our history, up to a generation ago, the essential driving forces of our economy were, to a greater or lesser extent, in the hands of the colonial power, our trading partners, or other persons and forces outside our control. in this new century, for the first time in all our history, we are fully in control. i do not mean to say that the rest of the world has no impact on us. clearly we are as vulnerable, if not more so, to the vagaries of our trading partners as we have ever been. however, we, like malta, singapore and other successful small economies worldwide, have found ways to grow and prosper over the past 50 years or more, so that now we are ranked with the world ’ s leading economies, in terms of average incomes, health and educational facilities. in these important dimensions, we are now a first world country. that is a signal achievement, but it brings with it a great weight of responsibility. from now on, barbadians have to chart our own path forward, to grow our economy and provide additional opportunities for our people. our private sector will have to seek out profitable opportunities for investment, and take aggressive initiatives to promote and finance that investment. we can no longer depend on others to show us the way. it is especially important that investors give priority to the sectors that earn us foreign exchange, principally tourism and other services. when the barbadian economy grows, the demand for foreign exchange grows along with it, so growth can only be sustained if there are additional supplies of foreign exchange available. which brings us to the importance of this seminar. the ibfs sector is second in importance to tourism as an earner of foreign exchange for barbados, and it is an essential complement to the tourism sector. although the sector is much smaller than tourism, it has a distinct advantage in the quality of job on offer, and the level of skill required

delisle worrell : changes impacting barbados ’ competitive market position remarks by dr delisle worrell, governor of the central bank of barbados, at the opening of the international business and financial sector conference, bridgetown, 15 march 2012. * * * this conference takes place at an extremely challenging time for the international business and financial sector ( ibfs ). in addition to the adverse effects of ongoing global uncertainty, we have to cope with swiftly changing international regulatory guidance, and with changes in law and practices abroad that may affect barbados ’ competitive position in the market. we have had to confront major changes in the ibfs sector before, and we will overcome them on this occasion, just as we have done in the past. to achieve this, we must be proactive, both in the public and private sectors. we are already embarked on the process of strengthening our framework of regulation of the financial sector, to ensure that it stays abreast of the most current guidance and best practices. the central bank is coordinating an exercise which will lead to a comprehensive review, via an imf / world bank financial sector assessment programme ( fsap ), to be conducted next year. we, the regulators, will work together with you to ensure that the fsap certifies us as being on par with the foremost international financial centres worldwide. this year is devoted to perfecting our systems and legislation, so that we can do our own selfassessment. as always, any changes will be fully ventilated and discussed with you. some of you will have participated in previous fsaps, and you know that when the assessment teams come to visit, they will interview a sample of financial institutions, to have your views. please communicate with us now on things that we need to address, so that next year you will be able to affirm that we are up to best international standards in every way. it is vital that we track all aspects of international developments affecting the ibfs sector. to this end, the central bank last month launched a quarterly electronic newsletter, available on our website. i urge you to take a look, if you have not done so already, and to look out for forthcoming issues in may, august and november. the newsletter aims to facilitate networking, and we welcome your contributions and reactions to the material. the february issue deals with caribbean involvement with the financial stability board, the body overseeing international financial reform ; the financial action task force on anti money laundering (