Lawrence who was at the time addressing the 7th annual Anti-money Laundering Caribbean Financial Action Task Force Awareness Seminar, held on Tuesday 1st February, said he is confident that the future looks bright for improved cooperation between the Nevis Island Administration and the island’s financial institutions.
“We are trying to forge cooperation between the public and private sectors. In the past, we have been critical of service providers in terms of not being able to come forward to the table with ideas to propel the jurisdiction forward. Sometime last year I got a report from NISPA which put forward several proposals for the offshore sector. I want to assure that very soon we would organize a committee to look at these proposals, filter them and try to ensure that we make the necessary changes to move the jurisdiction forward,” Lawrence explained.
The PS also highlighted the advances in standard improvement and outlined the importance of supporting seminars such as the Anti-money Laundering Caribbean Financial Action Task Force Awareness Seminar.
“In St. Kitts and Nevis we have passed several legislations and we have improved regulatory infrastructure, we have done a tremendous amount of work in improving our standards,” Lawrence stated.
“As we continue our efforts to eliminate these negative perceptions and to maintain the integrity of our financial system, seminars such as these become even more important in providing industry players and government with a forum in which we can become more informed on developments and standards of best practice, and where practitioners can share experience which will ultimately lead to improve business practice,” he added,
Lawrence gave the assurance the NIA will continue to improve Nevis’ regulatory system and standards and also pledged the government’s supports of the offshore sector. “We will continue to endeavour to improve the regulatory standards on Nevis, but I can assure all of you here that we will not give up in terms of the offshore sectors.
“Throwing in the towel is completely out of the picture for us. We will continue to work hard along with all the providers here, forging a partnership working together crafting new laws, improving the regulatory framework and we’re going to continue with these seminars to ensure that we inform and educate everyone involved so that we are on the same page so that we can continue to work together as a team in making Nevis an outstanding jurisdiction,” the Permanent Secretary stated.