Publication of Data for Commercial Banks
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) began side-by-side publication of fees and charges for commercial banks in January 2018: (https://www.eccb-centralbank.org/commercial-banks-fees-and-charges).
Similarly, the ECCB has now published select data for banks including assets, loans, deposits, non-performing loans, capital, and interest rates for loans and deposits.
Currently, the ECCB only requires the publication of audited financial statements for commercial banks. However, the frequency of these reports may not be sufficient to facilitate client decision making as:
- The publication of financial statements is sometimes delayed;
- The format of these statements is not uniform and therefore does not facilitate easy comparison of financial institutions; and
- The financial year-ends are not the same, also making comparison difficult.
The publication of this select data on the ECCB’s website is expected to:
- Contribute to financial literacy;
- Increase the public’s ability to make informed decisions about their banking options;
- Enable market participants to demand better services, products and accountability thereby promoting more sound banking practices; and
- Enable banks and customers to more easily conduct comparative market surveys within the industry.
Members of the public are encouraged to review this information, which will be published on a quarterly basis. As the information is extracted from the unaudited prudential returns submitted by commercial banks, all queries should be directed to the relevant commercial bank.
