Eastern Caribbean Central Bank 2024-2025 Annual Report

EASTERN CARIBBEAN CENTRAL BANK ANNUAL REPORT 2024 - 2025

Areas of Focus 2025-2026

Financial Stability Implementation of SWIFT

December 2025, ongoing operationalisation of the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process, and commencing the implementation of Pillar 3. AML/CFT/CPF Supervisory Framework: Continual improvement of the framework to include the issuance of guidance and standards on key areas, such as Institutional ML/TF/PF Risk Assessments, Ongoing Monitoring, and Beneficial Ownership. The ECCB will continue to push its mandate to offer industry training on critical AML/CFT/CPF areas, such as ongoing monitoring, risk assessments, and simplified due diligence, as well as increased stakeholder engagement and collaboration. In addition, the ECCB will facilitate its participation in regional outreach and public education for the Basic Bank Account. Oversight of the Payment and Settlement System : The Bank will finalise the outstanding manuals; continue the review and enhancement of data collection templates; implement the payment system oversight framework; and conduct on site examinations to complement the off-site monitoring of the operations of Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs). In order tomitigate systemic risk, the overarching objective is to foster regulatory compliance with the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMIs) whose implementation is monitored by the CPMI-IOSCO. Payment System and Services Bill and Payment System and Services (Licensing) Regulations: The ECCB will continue to follow up with ECCU member governments on the enactment of the Payment System and Services Bill and will finalise the Payment System and Services (Licensing)

The ECCB will finalise efforts towards full implementation of SWIFT’s mandatory migration to International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) standard (ISO20022) by November 2025. Efforts will include internal training and various rounds of testing internally and with external partners for the effective implementation of the standard. The Harmonised Messaging Standards, which serve as guidelines for the exchange of financial messaging between ECCB and its clients, will also be revised to promote efficiency in the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) environment. AML/CFT/CPF Policy The ECCB will complete and implement an AML/ CFT/CPF Policy to establish a comprehensive framework towards the identification, assessment, monitoring and management of money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing risks associated with all activities of the ECCB. The policy will augment existing policies and procedures within the Bank that were developed tomitigate riskswhen conducting business, establishing relationships and executing transactions on behalf of and with clients, employees and service providers of the Central Bank.

Regulation and Supervision Basel II/III

Implementation:

Enhancing

the the operationalisation of the Basel II/III capital adequacy framework, including implementation of Pillar 2 and Pillar 3, to bolster the LFIs’ capital position and risk management function. The way forward includes: conducting Basel II/III reviews by supervisory framework through

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