BRIDGETOWN, Barbados–A senator here is calling on this country’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) to extend deposit insurance protection to credit unions.
Senator Lynette Holder made the recommendation in remarks delivered before the Upper House during a debate on the Financial Services Commission Act.
“I am calling today for the Financial Services Commission in its review and efforts through this amendment to look at best practices and how it operates here in Barbados to ensure that they comply with commissions the world over, but that it also seeks to protect this very critical sector within our society and work with the credit union movement to put in place deposit insurance that would allow our 205,000 (CU members) some semblance of security,” Holder said.
Holder said credit unions had helped thousands of Barbadians from all walks of life over the years.
Help for St. Peter… And St. Lucy. And…
“The average person from St. Lucy, St. Andrew, St. Peter right through to St. Philip, St. John has been able over time to turn to this indigenous institution for access to credit,” Holder said. “They can have access to mortgages, access business loans. They can purchase their vehicles etc. through credit. There was a time in this country you could not save within the commercial bank the laws did not allow that and they were able to.”
There are 33 credit unions in Barbados representing $2.4-billion in total assets.
Individual deposits in banks in Barbados are insured up to a maximum of $25,000 per customer by the Barbados Deposit Insurance Corporation (BDIC), created by Act of Parliament in 2006.