About the Initiative
Correspondent banking relations (CBRs) facilitate access to financial services across jurisdictions, including cross border payments connected to remittances, trade financing and other economic activities. Well-functioning CBRs also promote financial inclusion. In recent years, there has been a growing trend towards a reduction in CBRs in many countries, creating a problem known as “de-risking.”
This phenomenon has been particularly acute in the Caribbean. In light of the above, the Association of Supervisors of Banks of the Americas (ASBA) signed an Agreement of Non- Refundable Technical Cooperation ATN/ME-15948-RG, to implement the project denominated “Strengthening Financial Transparency: Rebuilding Trust in Correspondent Banking in the Caribbean.” The objective of this project is to increase the level of financial transparency in Caribbean countries, to help prevent and mitigate the risk of loss of CBRs.
The Caribbean Financial Transparency website, part of the above-mentioned project, was developed aiming to provide the Caribbean region with a unique site to disseminate knowledge, raise public awareness, facilitate training activities and establish an advocacy initiative about de-risking. The success of this effort lies on the continuous content contribution from the interested parties of the Caribbean.
This is a joint effort between ASBA and the Central Bank of Bahamas, with the support of the IDB-Lab and the Caribbean Development Bank.
Latest News and Events
Inaugural Global Research Conference on Empirical Approaches to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) & Financial Crime
The Association of Supervisors of Banks of the Americas and the Central Bank of The Bahamas, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank Lab and the...
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ASBA Conference: Efforts in Reducing the Negative Impact of Loss of Correspondent Banking Relationships in The Caribbean: The Supervisors and Financial Institutions Role
With the support of specialized instructors in banking supervision and AML / CFT issues, the first edition of the training "Efforts in Reducing the Negative Impact of...
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New correspondent banking data – the decline continues at a slower pace
Cross-border payments are vital for economic growth, international trade, global development and financial inclusion. Yet they are generally slower, more expensive, less transparent and less accessible than domestic payments. These long-standing issues have been thrown into sharp relief by improvements in domestic payments and by developers of proposals for new payment arrangements.
Enhancing cross-border payments: building blocks of a global roadmap
The G20 has made enhancing cross-border payments a priority during the 2020 Saudi Arabian Presidency. Faster, cheaper, more transparent and more inclusive cross-border payment services would deliver widespread benefits for citizens and economies worldwide, supporting economic growth, international trade, global development and financial inclusion.
Dirty Money Pushed, Dirty Money Pulled. A Gravity Analysis of Anomalous Financial Statistics
The applied literature on illicit (“dirty”) money flows increasingly uses gravity equations as a workable empirical strategy to control for characteristics of both “source” and “destination” countries. This literature lacks […]
An Analysis of Money Laundering and Economic Growth in Trinidad and Tobago
This paper investigates the relationship between money laundering and economic growth in Trinidad and Tobago. It utilizes annual secondary time series data for the period 1990 to 2017. The proxy […]
De-risking’ in The Caribbean Region – a CFATF Perspective
In the global framework for managing and mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks, a risk-based approach (RBA) requires the adjustment of the implementation of measures in proportion to […]
Drug Money and Bank Lending: The Unintended Consequences of Anti-Money Laundering Policies
This paper documents a hidden cost of anti-money laundering policies. We show that a policy implemented in Colombia reduced bank deposits in high intensity drug trafficking areas, causing banks that […]