At the invitation of the Prime Minister & Minister of Finance of Barbados, the Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, QC, DBE, MP, Bermuda’s Premier & Minister of Finance, the Hon. David Burt will be in Barbados on Wednesday to participate in the Caribbean Financial Access Roundtable.

The Roundtable meeting, which takes place tomorrow, April 20, is co-hosted by the Government of Barbados and the Hon. Maxine Waters, Chair of the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.

Premier Burt will be joined by the Acting Financial Secretary and CFATF Chair, Cheryl Lister, CEO of Clarien Bank Ian Truran and the Director of Banking, Trust, Corporate Service and Investments for the Bermuda Monetary Authority, Ashley Kibblewhite.

Also, in attendance at the financial summit will be senior representatives of US and Canadian Banks, CARICOM Heads of Government, the CARICOM and OECS Secretaries-General and the President of the Caribbean Development Bank.

Tomorrow’s event follows discussions that took place in Washington, DC in 2019 prior to the pandemic to tackle the challenges that small island states, like Bermuda, are facing with correspondent banking due to de-risking activities of US banks.

In addition to de-risking, matters being discussed include the scope and impact of EU listing initiatives, and actions to address the changing international standards to combat money laundering, terrorist financing.

Premier Burt said, “Bermuda’s banks have faced issues with correspondent banking relationships, and these challenges have hindered efforts to diversify our economy in areas like FinTech and Gaming. It is important that we continue to engage leaders in the United States and CARICOM to resolve these issues which unfairly target small island states. This meeting is an excellent opportunity to discuss these and other important matters with key decision makers while we also highlight Bermuda's financial services sector's leadership in combating money laundering.”