Guyana Government Examining New Legislation To Protect Depositors

GEORGETOWN, Guyana CMC – The Guyana government says, it will hold discussions with bankers here, with a view to implementing legislation that would help their customers recover their deposits should the financial institution collapse.

“Our government proposes to discuss with bankers the implementation of a deposit insurance scheme to ensure that individuals who hold deposits at failed financial institutions would be compensated up to an agreed amount within a specific time,” President David Granger said, as he addressed the opening of the Demerara Bank’s Corporate Headquarters.

He said, the initiative follows the loss of millions of dollars (One Guyana dollar =US$0.004 cents) that local depositors lost due to the collapse of Globe Trust in 2001, the Trinidad-based Colonial Life Insurance (CLICO) six years ago and the then Antigua-based Stanford Bank.

He said, the collapse of those institutions signaled the need for “continued vigilance” and the need to strengthen the regulatory and supervisory capacity of the Bank of Guyana.

Guyana President, David Granger

Granger said, it was also important for the financial institutions, operating here, to ensure they do not transact business involving “dirty money,” warning that Guyana could be exposed to sanctions if money laundering undermines the country’s financial system.

“We look forward to the vision of our commercial banks and of our regulatory bodies to prevent the contamination of our financial system with dirty money,” he said, calling on the banks to “zealously guard against illicit funds finding their way into the financial system”.

He told the ceremony for the opening of the GUY$800 million dollar building, that his administration remained committed to ensuring that Guyana remains compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

In his address, President Granger said, that his administration was doing everything possible to stem crime, by reviving the United Kingdom-funded Security Sector Reform Programme (SSRP) that had come under problems with the then People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government.

“This administration has got to deal with a police force that has not been reformed. We will deal with it and I ask you to be patient with us, but we are changing, we are transforming the police force,” he said, calling on the commercial banks, here, to play their role by developing other monetary instruments because Guyana was still a largely cash-based economy.