Premier Cora Richardson Hodge has pledged to revive Anguilla’s financial services sector and restore it as a major pillar of the economy.
She said “there’s room for us” to regain former success through renewed investment, stronger marketing and better use of existing legislation.
Richardson Hodge, who also serves as finance minister, highlighted the restored focus on financial services during a government press conference on 12 October.
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“As we all know, at one point in time financial services was our second major industry in Anguilla, and there is no reason why we cannot achieve that level of success once again,” she said.
In the premier’s supplementary budget speech on 9 October, she outlined plans to establish a Financial Services Development and Promotion Unit within the Ministry of Finance.
A director, a financial services development officer and a financial services promotion officer will collaborate with the Financial Services Commission, the Attorney General’s Chambers and other agencies.
The unit will research market opportunities, work with industry professionals and identify ways to strengthen and promote the sector, the premier said.
In the recent press conference, Richardson Hodge said the unit is “critical” in order to rebuild Anguilla’s financial services industry.
Asked whether she thought Anguilla had enough influence to compete with others in the financial services arena, she responded: “There’s always space.”
The premier recalled that UK government funding helped Anguilla to offer company incorporation within 24 hours in the 1980s and said similar opportunities remained today.
She said government representatives are currently overseas lobbying to improve Anguilla’s financial services standing.
Meanwhile, existing legislation offers opportunities to expand into areas of the sector not yet developed, Richardson Hodge added.
“We do have the the interest in ensuring that it continues to take off, and I think it was just unfortunate that under the previous administration, the financial services sector was reduced,” she said.
She said financial services marketing had been scaled back to a single person based at the Anguilla Tourist Board, making it difficult to promote the sector effectively.
“There’s room for us, and we have excellent regulations, we have excellent legislation, and so we just now need to be able to put the effort into being able to rebuild our financial services sector,” she said.
