News Releases

EU’s Blacklisting of CARICOM Financial Centres

For Release Upon Receipt - December 22, 2017

UWI


The following statement is issued by the Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles on the EU’s blacklisting of CARICOM financial centres.

In spite of being an environment ravished by the effects of global climate change, and the specific economic challenges of being small, open economies, CARICOM states have achieved and maintain the status of middle-income developing countries. They have maintained modest rates of economic growth although being the region most adversely affected by the global financial crisis. This accomplishment has necessitated building resilience, the identification of niches in the higher echelons of global value chains and continually improving their international competitiveness in a changing global economy.  Resilience has helped to ameliorate the impact of frequent climate-related natural disasters and the adverse consequences of exogenous events such as oil price fluctuations. However, it is difficult to insulate against policies of other countries which have deleterious effects such as the December 5th publication of the Council of the European Union‘s (CEU) “List of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes”. 

While unforeseen events are inherent in the globalization of the world economy every effort must be made to ensure a rules-based multilateral regime which is fair, transparent and non-discriminatory, offering equal opportunities for all countries. Small countries are particularly disadvantaged by rules imposed unilaterally or by groups of countries through fora in which they are not participants in the decision-making. The “blacklisting” by the EU of several CARICOM off-shore financial centres as non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes is yet another instance in a recurring pattern of conduct. Both the evaluation and designation made by the EU were not consultative and hence their transparency and impartiality are open to question.

This latest decision by the EU is based on new, unilaterally-determined and unclear criteria that differ significantly from the currently accepted international standards of tax transparency, anti-money laundering and accountability. These universally accepted standards were established by the Financial Action Task Force and the OECD Global Forum and demanded by the very EU. CARICOM countries have met or exceeded these accepted international standards and best practices over many years and demonstrated a long-standing, unwavering commitment to adhere to them. The unilateral EU blacklisting is de facto a derailing of these standards and undermine the entire process of accountability and fairness in financial matters carefully constructed by the world community.

The unfavourable and unfair categorization of certain CARICOM countries is likely to result in reputational damage, encouragement of “de-risking” including the withdrawal of correspondent banking services and the imposition of costs in the adjustment to new onerous regulatory requirements. Further, whether intentional or accidental, this action is tantamount to creating a competitive advantage for off-shore financial centres operating within the national jurisdiction of European Union member states. 

The UWI stands with the governments of the Caribbean in protesting the recent actions by the EU and calling for a more transparent and equitable regulatory system and joins the call for the EU to enter into a process to resolve the issue. To this end The University of the West Indies (The UWI) will continue to put its expertise and research capacity at the service of governments, the private sector and regional organizations to craft appropriate policy responses.  

CARICOM’s continuing successful involvement in the highly competitive international financial services will be driven by knowledge, innovation and the quality of human resources and hence the central role of The UWI which has the principal source of quality higher education, research and development policy advice for CARICOM and on several developing country issues.

Professor Sir Hilary Beckles

Vice-Chancellor, The University of the West Indies

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About Professor Sir Hilary Beckles

Professor Sir Hilary Beckles is an Economic Historian, was installed as the 8th Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) on 30, May, 2015. Before assuming the office of Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Sir Hilary was Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University’s Cave Hill Campus in Barbados for 13 years (2002-2015). Sir Hilary is a distinguished university administrator, and transformational leader in higher education. For his complete biography, visit:  http://www.uwi.edu/VCBiography.asp.  

 

About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, The UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. The UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: www.uwi.edu

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

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