Renowned Retired Banker Everett Christian Says EC$50 Million in Unclaimed Deposits Should Fund Healthcare and Education, Not OECS Airline

A retired banker is challenging the proposed use of tens of millions of dollars in unclaimed bank deposits to launch a regional airline, arguing that the funds — contributed by ordinary citizens across the OECS over a span of 25 to 30 years — should be directed toward healthcare, education, or a regional university campus instead.

The Money and Where It Sits

Approximately EC$50 million in unclaimed deposits has accumulated at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, representing funds left dormant in commercial bank accounts for between 25 and 30 years. Under the Banking Act, such deposits are transferred to the central bank after a 15-year period and vested in the Crown.

Reports indicate that officials have been weighing the use of those funds to help launch a proposed OECS airline — a plan that still depends on the outcome of a viability study.

"They Should Benefit All the People"

Retired banker Everett Christian, speaking on the Big Issues programme on Observer Radio on Sunday, said the money belongs to the people of the OECS who deposited it and should serve a broad developmental purpose rather than being channelled into a single sector.

"I think those funds should be used for developmental purposes so that they would benefit all of the people of the OECS who are the ones who contributed," Christian said.

When pressed for a specific alternative, Christian pointed to the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus as a project with genuine sub-regional benefit. "UWI Five Islands Campus — that may be one that you can say the sub-region could benefit from and not just Antigua and Barbuda," he said.

He also floated the idea of a regional ferry service as a potentially more viable alternative to an airline. "Maybe a ferry service rather than an airline service may be more viable, and with the ferry, you could have it every day," Christian suggested.

Doubts About Another Regional Airline

Christian questioned whether launching another OECS airline makes financial sense at all, pointing to LIAT's turbulent ownership history. He noted that current majority owner Air Peace holds approximately 70 percent of the carrier and said flights and routes have been reduced since that takeover — raising questions about whether the sub-region's air travel market can sustain yet another entrant.

The Legal Question

Christian also addressed the legal basis for using the unclaimed funds, rejecting the view that a new act of Parliament would be required before the deposits could be redirected. He argued that ambiguity in the Banking Act itself may already permit a claim against the funds, though he acknowledged the provision is not clearly spelled out.

"These funds have been paid into the central bank after the 15-year period, and they're vested in the Crown," he said, adding that while there "may be some measure through which you can make a claim at the Central Bank," the legal pathway is not entirely clear.

The proposal to redirect unclaimed deposits into a regional airline has generated significant public debate across the OECS. Christian's intervention adds the voice of someone with decades of direct banking sector experience to a conversation that is, at its core, about priorities — and whether EC$50 million accumulated from the savings of ordinary Caribbean citizens over a generation should be risked on an airline venture or invested in the healthcare, education, and infrastructure that those same citizens need today.