SOURCE: The Antigua Sun

All companies supplying money services in Antigua and Barbuda have been warned that they will fall under new regulations in a matter of days, and will have to be licensed by the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) to continue operations.

Last Thursday, Minister of Finance and the Economy Dr. Errol Cort met with the various stakeholders in the sector and informed them that the government intends to bring the Money Services Business Act into effect on 1 May. The Act was gazetted on 8 Nov., 2007.

Under the Money Services Business Act, all parties engaged in money services businesses will be regulated by the FSRC. Such businesses include, but are not limited to, money transfers and cheque cashing operations.

“Prior to this, there was absolutely no legislative framework to regulate this type of business. What was happening and what continues to happen is that persons just open these businesses in their homes, they take in some large sums of money. They’re transferring money and we could not allow that situation to continue,” Dr. Cort told the Antigua Sun.

Last Thursday, the finance minister met with all operators of money services to advise them that the Act would be brought into force at the start of May and discuss the implications of the legislation for their businesses.

Dr. Cort noted that the Act has a grandfather clause that would ensure that such people are not immediately put out of business on 1 May.

“Section IV (2) of the Act has a provision that says, if you were conducting the business of money services prior to the coming into force of the Act, you would automatically be granted a licence for a four-month period or such other period as the commission may deem necessary, during which time you would have to make the necessary applications to be properly licensed under that Act,” he said.

Thursday’s meeting was a sensitisation workshop between officials in the Ministry of Finance, the FSRC and the money service businesses.

At that session, it was decided that a series of additional workshops would be organised for the legal officer at the FSRC to examine the Act clause by clause with the stakeholders.

The aim is to work with the stakeholders so that they can obtain the licences required under the Act.

Dr. Cort said that he was pleased with the generally positive response of the operators to the new requirements.