Both Sides of The Coin: The Story of The Central Bank of Barbados 1972-2017

151 The previous chapters constitute a general history of the Central Bank of Barbados. However, there are several developments that deserve special attention. These include the establishment of the international business and financial sector, the actions taken by the staff to organise collective bargaining and recreational activity, the public relations effort, the publications programme, the Bank’s involvement in the 1991-1993 economic crisis and the progress of women through the institution. SUPPORTING THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR In the late 1970s when Government took a decision to promote Barbados as an offshore financial centre, Governor Blackman threw the Bank’s resources squarely behind the initiative. The Bank signalled Barbados’s interest in hosting financial entities at a seminar on tax havens at the CDB on June 1 and 2, 1977. It also did much of the initial research on offshore finance, including the preparation of a paper entitled “Offshore Banking Centres” by Economist Eric Brathwaite in 1978. The Bank Supervision Department played an active role in establishing procedures for the administration of the new Offshore Banking Act (1979) which gave the Bank the responsibility for developing Barbados as an international financial centre. After the Act came into force, the CHAPTER 5 SOME NOTABLE DEVELOPMENTS Chapter 5: Some Notable Developments