Financial Services Regulatory Authority of the Year 2024 - Caribbean The Financial Services Unit (FSU) serves as the sole regulatory authority for financial services in Dominica, which is an island country situated in the Windward Islands group of the Caribbean. As one of the most stringent authorities of its kind in this region, the FSU is responsible for supervising everything from credit unions and insurance companies to offshore banks, forex businesses, and other such financial entities and service providers, and this award is a testament to its lasting success in doing so. Operating under the guidance of Dominica’s wider Ministry of Economic Development, Climate Resilience, and Social Security and comprised of a series of highly experienced and qualified professionals, the FSU covers the country’s entire financial services sector, and both supervises and regulates almost all of the financial institutions active within Dominica’s jurisdiction, with the only exceptions being commercial banks and securities businesses. Created in 2008, the FSU has strengthened supervisions in these sectors considerably over the past 17 years and has continued to grow from strength to strength. At the very heart of the FSU is a committed and competitive approach when it comes to both protecting consumers and further enhancing the integrity of Dominica’s market. Staff here strive to not only put consumers first, but also to thrive at the very top of the financial services sphere. To make sure that this is the case, FSU adheres to a number of core values and guiding principles, with these revolving around the twin pillars of efficiency and effectiveness. Claudius Lestrade, who has been the director here since 2017, joining the company back in 2009 when the FSU was established as an act of parliament, explains, “we maintain a high level of integrity and transparency, operating with honesty as a fundamental principle.” For Director Lestrade one of the distinguishing features of the FSU continues to be the mutual respect that exists between its team members, with the director himself being the one responsible for nurturing the innate value and respect which defines the internal culture of this acclaimed regulatory authority. “We respect and value each other as we foster an internationally competitive and successful financial services industry. We act in the best interests of the clients we serve, and we safeguard the integrity of the financial services sector. ” Since the FSU is responsible for overseeing such a wide range of financial services and activities carried out by the likes of building societies, international banks and money transfer companies, to name just a few, it possesses a strict set of 19 principal functions that it follows to the letter. The first of these spans supervising licensees in accordance with the regulations laid out in the aforementioned 2008 parliamentary act, including the likes of the financial services enactments as well as any and all regulatory codes. Principal function number two is all about monitoring, and sees on- and off-site examinations carried out to ensure the compliance of any regulated persons with all of the necessary prevention and ethical standards acts, as well as any other relevant guidelines. In a similar vein, the third function concerns monitoring those financial institutions operating in or from Dominica, as well as taking the necessary action against those carrying out financial services when they have not been given the proper authorisation to do so. Functions four, five, and six concern administering financial services enactments, maintaining/supervising the offshore registry, and examining the effectiveness of these regulations to see that Dominica more than meets internationally accepted standards. From here, functions seven and eight involve the minister responsible for overseeing this area of the government, especially advising said individual on pressing matters and making recommendations on the revisions necessary to further streamline the sector’s operations. While function nine may be all about encouraging the highest professional standards, principal function ten encapsulates the need for the FSU to form close relations with its contacts in foreign regulatory authorities and other such international associations or groups relating to this field. The 11th and 12th functions then see the team at the FSU turn their attention back inwards, as they focus on providing information and advice to licensees, as well as any other information that is afforded to them as a result of the act. FSU’s 13th function is then closely linked to its 18th, as they both concern taking measures to improve Dominica’s financial services industry, more broadly in the former and then concerning Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing in the latter. Functions 14 and 15 see the importance of liaising with the country’s Financial Intelligent Unit and Central Bank stressed, while the remaining three – 16, 17, and 19 – again involve the aforementioned Minister of Finance and Financial Secretary government minister, covering such areas as compliance, regulation, and code. “We foster an internationally competitive financial services industry and aim to enhance both Dominica’s financial services sector and consumer interests. ” It was 2011 that would see an amendment to the act of parliament that had first established the FSU three years prior, and this would lay the groundwork for the work in Money Laundering prevention and counter-terrorism financing which the FSU would excel in over subsequent years. This was solidified in the chapter concerning the Money Laundering Prevention Act in the 2017 Revised Laws of Dominica, which clearly designates that the FSU is the Money Laundering Supervisory Authority (MLSA) with responsibility in this area. Beyond this, Director Lestrade signs off by telling us, “the FSU is also responsible for securing Suppression of the Financing of terrorism compliance and for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction of all financial services businesses and all designated nonfinancial businesses and professions.” Ultimately, although it is a department within Dominica’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the Financial Services Unit has established itself as something much more and is today proud to be one of the premier independent financial services regulators in its subregion. Recognised here as the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of the Year 2024 -Caribbean, the Financial Services
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