Industry insiders allege that Browne Administration depleted FSRC’s reserves, Watts reports

As the Browne Administration appears to have thrown the
Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) under the
proverbial bus in the matter involving a 2017 donation to Barbuda’s
hurricane-relief efforts, industry professionals are asking some hard
questions about the agency.

MP Algernon Watts reported today, February 8, that impeccable
sources had directed him to ask the minister of finance, Prime
Minister Gaston Browne, about the accounts of the FSRC, itself.
According to Watts, these sources allege that the Browne
Administration has taken massive amounts from the Commission’s
reserves, leaving the agency financially vulnerable.

Therefore, these sources say they are very worried about the state
of play in the sector.

Other persons admit that they, too, are now anxious, following the
recent news that the Government is moving to protect itself against
what appears to be the looming collapse of the Global Bank of
Commerce and its takeover by the FSRC.

One frustrated depositor, Jack Stroll, has been unable to withdraw
his US$10 million from Global and has resorted to the court to
redeem his funds.

For weeks, Stroll has been demanding a copy of Global Bank’s
“Certificate of Good Standing” from the FSRC and asking why the
regulatory agency has not stepped in and placed the offshore bank
into receivership.

Other observers have wondered, too, whether the agency’s
hesitancy to do so was because of the Cabinet’s influence and the
bank’s alleged loans to ministers and known borrowings by the
Government.

The FSRC and its effectiveness as an oversight body were brought
into question in 2022 when news broke regarding the collapse of
the cryptocurrency giant FTX, which had registered at least one of
its companies here.

Watts says the serious allegation of the Browne Administration
depleting the FSRC’s reserves is a question the prime minister needs
to answer.