According to a statement by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the five Eastern Caribbean countries offering Citizenship by Investment (CBI) are close to establishing a regional CBI regulatory body.
This development emerged from the third US-Caribbean Roundtable on CBI held in Grenada on August 29, 2024. The OECS deemed the meeting “productive,” highlighting progress in implementing the six CBI principles agreed upon in February 2023.
Governor Timothy N.J. Antoine of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, who co-chaired the roundtable with US Treasury Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Warren Ryan, revealed that “the region will soon announce the appointment of an Interim Regulatory Commission, which will be tasked with establishing the regional regulator.”
The regulator’s primary objectives are to set standards, regulate, and supervise the CBI programs across Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, and St. Lucia (the Caribbean Five). It will also have the authority to implement corrective measures when necessary.
Delegates at the roundtable acknowledged “concerted regional efforts toward full implementation of the principles.” The Caribbean Five have fully implemented four of the six principles:
- A collective agreement on denials, preventing applicants rejected by one jurisdiction from applying to others.
- Mandatory interviews for all applicants.
- Additional checks with each country’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
- Suspension of application processing for Russian and Belarusian nationals.
The remaining two principles, focusing on audits and retrieving revoked passports, are “assiduously progressing towards full implementation.”
These efforts align with the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed by all CBI countries in March 2024. The US delegation “welcomed progress by the region in establishing an independent regional regulator, as envisioned in the MoA.”
While not part of the six principles agreed upon with the US, it’s worth noting that all Caribbean CBI countries have increased their minimum investment thresholds. This price increase came shortly after the Caribbean reportedly agreed on another six principles with the EU.
The OECS highlighted that CBI countries “remain resolute” in collectively enhancing the risk management and mitigation for the CBI programs and “are appreciative of the ongoing support by the United States Treasury for its efforts.”
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