Caddle: FSC gets more power

The Financial Services Commission(FSC) is being given more power to supervise and regulate the non-bank sector.

The House of Assembly on Tuesday debated and approved the Financial Services Commission (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2026, which not only validates the charging and collection of fees by the FSC “over a certain period”, but strengthens that agency’s ability to do its job.

The legislation was piloted by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Economic Affairs and Planning Marsha Caddle, who linked the amendments passed partly to the FSC’s signing of memoranda of understanding (MOU) with the International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO) and International Association of Insurance Supervisors.

Both MOUs relate to cooperation and the exchange of information, the minister said. “This Bill and these proposed amendments seek not just to validate the fees that have recently been collected over previous years, or the collection of those fees, but it seeks to continue to modernise and to strengthen the legislative framework that governs the Financial Services Commission,” Caddle said.

“We have sought to amend the legislation to enhance the supervisory and the regulatory powers of the FSC to allow it to gather information and exchange information, and also to engage in international regulatory cooperation, sharing information with other institutions in other countries.”

The Member of Parliament for St Michael South Central added that the IOSCO MOU “serves to set an international benchmark for cross-border cooperation. It provides regulators of securities like the FSC with the kinds of tools that we need to be able to fight cross-border fraud and misconduct that can weaken global markets and undermine investor confidence”.

She added: “One of the things that this will allow Barbados to do is to make sure that we remain competitive, we remain marketable to investors and potential investors and other companies, especially when it comes to things like compliance and mutual assistance.

“But also that we are able to create a domestic environment where people who do business here feel safe in the execution of that business and are able to see their companies grow in the ways in which such companies might grow in other countries.”

She also said the MOUs and legislative amendments will put the FSC in a better position to protect consumers in an environment where financial instruments continued to evolve.

“We have seen a lot in the [cryptocurrency] space and in that market . . . we have, quite frankly, seen quite a few actors who have not been on good footing to operate, and in several jurisdictions this has had tremendous costs to individuals, because there are people who seek to invest in new ways,” she told the House.

“People will hear you could get a return of eight and nine per cent [up to] 15 per cent. That sounds like magic. And so they take up the money that they’ve been saving for retirement, that they’ve been saving to make sure that their child is able to go to university, and they’ve put it at the disposal of some company that is selling a new product.

“That is not to say that a new product or service is always nefarious. In fact, in most cases, it is not. But to be able to share information from jurisdictions that have already started regulating, that means that Barbados and others will be able to get ahead of the curve a bit.” (SC)

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