THE annual general meeting and conference of the Caribbean Association of Indigenous Banks (CAIB) will be held in Montego Bay, Jamaica from November 17 through to the 20th.
The Association, comprising 39 members' banks representing 14 countries, and three honorary members, namely Caribbean Development Bank, CARICOM and the Caribbean Centre for Monetary Studies Caribbean, is this year celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. The conference will take place at the Half Moon Hotel and will begin with a closed session annual general meeting to be followed by two full days of conference. Participants at this year's conference are drawn from throughout the Caribbean basin. Other participants include vendors and suppliers of banking solutions and equipment will have a chance to display their products and will make presentations to the delegates.
Speaking of the upcoming conference, Aubyn Hill, Group Managing Director of National Commercial Bank (NCB), who is also an executive of CAIB and this year's chairman of the organising committee said, "The Jamaican member banks comprising First Global, Capital and Credit Merchant Bank, RBTT Bank and NCB are working assiduously to make this conference the best in the 30-year history of CAIB. Among those speaking at this year's event are the Hon. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance and Planning, who will address the opening ceremony, and Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, Minister of National Security and Justice, will be the keynote speaker at the closing ceremony." Continuing, Mr. Hill said, "The topics to be covered over the two-day conference are relevant and applicable not only to Caribbean bankers, but also to business persons. Some of the speakers and topics to be covered include:
Rodger Cole of the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington will speak to 'Basel II'
Lisa Nedell of Bank of New York, will address the topic 'Disaster Recovery The BONY Experience'.
Andrew Williams of Bank of America his topic is 'The Patriot Act'.
James Moss-Solomon, Grace, Kennedy & Company will speak to 'The Free Trade Agreement of the Americas'.
Alok Jain, PricewaterhouseCoopers will address the 'International Reporting Standards'.
Paul Cole of KPMG will address the subject of 'The Balanced Score'."
Jack Shirley, Managing Director of First Global and an executive member of CAIB said, "The last time Jamaica played host to a CAIB Conference was in 1995. At last year's conference in St. Kitts it was unanimously agreed that Jamaica should play host. We are in the final planning stages of the conference and we have been working with international as well as local sponsors. Some of our sponsors are coming from as far away as India (Infosys; the UK and North America. Regional sponsors include Cable and Wireless; Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, to name a few."
The Caribbean Association of Indigenous Banks was established in 1974, following a decision by the eighth Meeting of the Heads of Government conference in 1973 and the Inaugural Meeting of the Standing Committee of Ministers Responsible for Finances, with a mandate for the members to meet and deliberate on issues that are relevant and topical to their success.
