Eastern Caribbean Central Bank 2024-2025 Annual Report

EASTERN CARIBBEAN CENTRAL BANK ANNUAL REPORT 2024 - 2025

Organisational Effectiveness and Development

Internal Audit The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) published its New Global Internal Audit Standards on 9 January 2024, with an effective date of 9 January 2025. The New Global Internal Audit Standards comprise five Domains, 15 Principles and 52 Standards. The Internal Audit Department (IAD) proactively performed a gap analysis of its policies and practices against the new standards to determine if there were any conformance gaps prior to the effective date of the new standards. An Action Plan was developed to implement the recommendations that were identified to bridge the noted gaps. Implementation of the Action Plan commenced in October 2024. Over the financial year, the IAD continued to provide assuranceonProjectBOOST,which involves replacing the Bank’s current Enterprise Resource Planning ERP Solution. One IAD full-time staff member monitored the project’s deliverables and escalated emerging risks as the ERP implementation transitioned from one provider to another. The IAD will also continue its assurance work of Project BOOST to assist with the scheduled ‘Go Live’ date. During the year, the Internal Audit function undertook audit engagements geared at increasing the Bank’s operating effectiveness. Projects and Technical Assistance The Projects and Technical Assistance (PTA) function is responsible for the management and oversight of projects that directly impact the lives of the ECCU citizens. The projects include Deposit Insurance, the Credit Bureau, Secured Transactions and Collateral Registry, the Greening

of the Financial System, Climate Financing and the Resilient Renewable Energy Infrastructure Investment Facility (RREIIF).] The specific objectives were as follows: ; Assess the effectiveness of the function in fulfilling its purpose and objectives; ; Assess the effectiveness of the coordination of Technical Assistance and identify opportunities for improvement; and ; Evaluate the adequacy of the processes in place to manage and oversee projects and ensure expected outcomes. The key responsibility of the PTA is to coordinate technical assistance from International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and regional development partners, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC). The audit was also to assess the effectiveness of the coordination of technical assistance and to identify opportunities for improvement. The main purpose of the audit was to assess the foundational elements of data and document management at the Bank, to determine where gaps exist and where improvement was needed for effective data management. The specific objectives were as follows: 1. Identify and assess the effectiveness of existing policies and structures in place for data governance at the Bank. 2. Review and assess the document/content Data Management and Document Correspondence

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