BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ORGANISERS of the 42nd Conference of the Caribbean Association of Banks Inc. (CAB) that is being held at the St. Kitts Marriott, said they expect the event to be beneficial to the ordinary man and the people of the Federation, which includes financial inflows.
During a media briefing, CAB Chairperson Joanna Charles spoke to the economic impact of the conference from which the people of the Federation are benefitting and would further benefit.
“…For St. Kitts in general, I think there would be an economic impact. There would be a lot of spending. We have more than 200 people coming into St. Kitts. The taxi drivers would benefit, the concessionaires would benefit, the caterers would benefit, the Marriott as an institution would benefit significantly.
“So I think there are a lot of benefits that redound to every aspect of the Kittitian society. I’m sure you know there will be close to maybe a quarter or more of a million dollars in spending. And that’s what we’ve recognised that the conference brings to the local economy in each island.”
CAB’s Director Donald Thompson, who is also the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, explained that the issues which are being addressed at the conference are designed to place the banks or more sound footing, and the effects of this would filter down to the ordinary man.
“What we are doing for this Conference is that we are bringing together all the indigenous banks of the region, and this spans beyond CARICOM to places like Suriname, Bahamas, Belize etc., to discuss some of the very matters that are affecting banks and that might, in the end, affect safety and soundness of these banks, and also to devise strategies that would help the banks to be more profitable to be on a sound footing.
“So in terms of what the benefits are of this Conference to the ordinary man, I think it is to see that banks, in the end, are able to develop strategies that would make them safer, sounder, more profitable etc. And that, I expect, would trickle down to the ordinary man, because what we are looking at is that we would be talking about international standards for example and bringing up all institutions to certain international standards.”
He said the issues which would be addressed at the Conference would also serve to benefit the end consumers of the banking institutions’ services.
The CAB’s 42nd Conference is being held from November 11-14 under the theme “The Financial Services Industry at Crossroads: Where to from Here?”
