Blacklisting, de-risking hurt Caribbean
By George Alleyne
The European Union has
slapped another regional territory
with a financial blacklist,
and this comes at a time when
leaders of the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) are expressing
disgust at what they see
as bullying by developed countries.
The latest territory to be
blacklisted is The Cayman
Islands on which the punitive
measure was placed earlier this
month, adding it to the US Virgin
Islands and Trinidad and
Tobago as Caribbean nations
affected.
Blacklisting makes it difficult
or near impossible for targeted
countries to conduct international
business as most transnational
financial organisations
shy away from the territories
for fear that they too would be
sanctioned.
Importantly, this blacklisting
can lead to correspondent banks
suspending their relationship
with the target territory — aptly
referred as de-risking - making
it difficult for persons and businesses
within the country to
conduct day-to-day purchases
abroad because those banks act
as clearing houses for international
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financial transactions.
Inclusion of The Cayman
Islands in the EU blacklist
regime came as a shock to
most because that territory was
thought to be compliant with
legal requirements, though
regarded as a tax haven.
But Cayman is a British
Dependent Territory, colony,
and in light of Britain leaving
the EU and as reported in the
UK Guardian newspaper, “the
decision will be seen as a shot
across the bows of the UK ahead
of negotiations on the future
relationship with the bloc.”
At the 31st CARICOM Intersessional
Meeting in Barbados
this month, regional leaders
stated that they “view the strategy
of blacklisting and de-risking,
which lead to the withdrawal
of correspondent banking
services, as an existential
threat to the economic security
of CARICOM Member States.”
They “deplored the ongoing
unilateral, arbitrary and nontransparent
blacklisting strategy
employed by the EU and now by
individual European states like
France and the Netherlands.”
Host country Barbados was
itself only last year relieved from
that incapacitating blacklist
after it was forced to go through
a process of ‘convergence’ of
taxes causing the government
to lose a high amount of income
as local corporate taxation that
was as high as 35 percent was
reduced to a maximum of five
percent in line with that charged
to offshore companies domiciled
on the island.
CARICOM leaders stressed
that the defensive tax measures
threatened by the European
States could have serious financial
repercussions on vulnerable
nations within the regional
grouping and their ability to
attract the investments needed
to build resilient economies.
“The measures have the
potential of causing devastating
economic, social and political
consequences for our states
as a result of the harm that
will be inflicted on our global
image, our economic competitiveness
and resource mobilization
efforts,” the leaders stated
in a communique.
“Heads of Government
agreed that the ongoing actions
of the European Union constitute
a blatant violation of their
sovereignty,” they stated, and
repeated a call “for the creation
of an appropriate intergovernmental
tax body with the adequate
means and powers to set
standards and rules which support
an equitable and universal
approach to an international tax
governance infrastructure.”
The leaders are however not
simply crying foul but have delegated
prime minister of Antigua
and Barbuda to lead negotiations
on behalf of the region
with respect to correspondent
banking.
One such meeting was with
members of the United States
Congress Financial Services
Committee to address the deleterious
impact of de-risking on
CARICOM Member States.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Gaston Brown at the
CARICOM meeting. Photo by George Alleyne
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