Above: Jamaican Finance Minister Peter Phillips

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaican Finance Minister Peter Phillips is urging the country’s credit unions to promote the need to adhere to international financial regulations.

“The global environment is now requiring us to comply with international financial standards,” Phillips said. “Other institutions have been forced to comply with these statutory obligations, including building societies, banks, and securities dealers.”

The Minister pointed to several proposed regulations, including the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the provisions under the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Regime.

The regulations, when in full effect, will have broad powers, he said.

The US-led initiative asks for the assistance of Foreign Financial Institutions to provide information on US citizens, legal residents or other US entities to file US tax returns.

“Some of your members may be affected by this law, which becomes effective in 2013,” he said during a speech to the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions in Montego Bay.

It is important for the region, and its credit unions, to familiarize themselves with the new provisions and act accordingly, he said.

“As a country, we cannot escape these realities, if we do not have an appropriate and acceptable regulatory framework, then Jamaica’s financial system as a whole is going to face difficulties,” he said. “The new regulatory environment governing financial institutions will be adopted; there simply no way around it.”