BARBADOS should have a Financial Services Commission in the next few months.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Development Mia Mottley told the House of Assembly yesterday during debate on the Central Bank
of Barbados (Amendment) Bill, 2007, the commission would regulate all
non-banking financial institutions.

"We're doing that because we believe that the quality of regulation which we deliver is as critical as the products which we offer for domiciling in Barbados under the laws of Barbados," Mottley said.

The St Michael
North-East MP reminded the Lower Chamber that Prime Minister Owen Arthur announced
the establishment
of the commission in this year's Economic
Policy Statement.

"We recognise that in a small society such as ours, there is a limited number of persons who have the skills to meet the demands of regulation and therefore we ought to benefit from the economies of scale
in terms of the numbers that can work in that single regulatory entity, rather than having multiple regulatory entities that are incapable of meeting the demands
of the office appropriately because of a limited pool
of skilled labour from which to draw.

"We also indicated that it is our intention that once that Financial Service Commission is established in the next
few months to be able to aggressively go after asset management as a particular niche in a more strategic way then we have done in the context
of the growth of the international financial services sector," said the Deputy Prime Minister.

The bill, which was the only item debated when the House of Assembly resumed after its annual six-week summer recess, removes the power from the Minister of Finance to prescribe interest rates on deposits and other liabilities and places it with the Central Bank thereby increasing its powers and responsibilities. (DS)