Regional business - Arthur to help clean up Antigua financial sector

The Baldwin Spencer administration is getting help from Owen Arthur to clean up this country's financial services sector.

"As you know, there have been issues surrounding the FSRC (Financial Services Regulatory Commission) in Antigua and Barbuda and we have asked him and he has consented [to] work with the government of Antigua and Barbuda to provide a road map ...," Spencer told the Nation newspaper on a visit to Barbados last week.

The Antiguan Prime Minister said the length of the assignment would depend on the level of work that was involved, and that his government had not placed a time limit on Arthur's tenure.

"But I expect him to be getting down to work very shortly," he said.

Arthur is a former prime minister and former minister of finance of Barbados. He will commute between the two islands, which are about one hour apart.

"Obviously, he will have to spend some time in Antigua, going back and forth. He will be interviewing a lot of people, looking at various aspects as they relate to the laws governing the whole operations, the rules and regulations, and how they match up with the internationally accepted standards," Spencer said.

He said Arthur would be required to examine the very structure of the FSRC to see whether it was properly based to meet current and foreseeable challenges.

Arthur last year declined an invitation by his own Prime Minister, David Thompson, to participate in a series of brainstorming meetings - along with former Prime Minister Sir Lloyd Sandiford and former Minister of Finance Sir Richard Haynes - on solutions for the economic crisis facing Barbados.

- CMC