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

280 of the Central Bank of Barbados: 1999 – 2001 was ready for implementation and the first awards ceremony by the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment , created in 1997 at the suggestion of Carl Moore, the public affairs officer, was held. To honour the first Governor the Board appropriated funds from the Bank’s profits to establish the Courtney Blackman Chair in Banking and Finance at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies and in February 1999 the Bank was a co-sponsor of a seminar to mark this decision. During my time as governor a major concern was to ensure that the financial system would not be affected by the Y2K bug when the new millennium began. The Bank initiated a Y2K readiness programme in 1997 to provide the public with reasonable assurances that the financial sector and the Bank’s internal systems were prepared for the change, and to raise awareness of the key issues related to the millennium bug. The public outreach included frequent media notices, seminars and, beginning in August 1998, the extremely popular Millennium Clock with its countdown to the new century. Simultaneous with the programme for institutional renewal I also established the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, an important innovation in corporate governance. In addition to its responsibility for approving the scope of the work of the external auditors and for receiving reports from them, the Audit Committee was also the approving and reporting authority for the Internal Auditor and would therefore serve to shield the internal audit from unwelcome influence by or pressure from the chief executive. My time as governor was sadly not long enough to ensure the realisation of the vision I had for the Bank and for many of the initiatives I undertook to take root. But it is safe to say that those that have lasted are contributing to the Bank’s identity and functioning today.