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

96 mechanisms. With a view to enhancing its IT capability, additional resources were made available to the MIS Department. The Bank also started to pay closer attention to financial sector issues. Governor Williams advocated a holistic approach to oversight by drawing attention to the common interests of financial regulators and the need for collaboration. She encouraged staff to improve their financial skills and supported local and regional institutions, such as the Institute of Bankers and the Cave Hill School of Business, that were charged with promoting a better understanding of financial issues. In this connection, she helped to introduce research on financial issues into the work programme of the Caribbean Centre for Monetary Studies. She also inaugurated a biennial one-day conference on the impact of international financial developments on the international business and financial services sector. Several facilities and mechanisms to benefit present and former staff were introduced, including the after-school day care, the gym and the Retirees Club. Enhanced corporate support for the arts and culture was evident from the higher level of sponsorship that was made available and it was during Governor Williams’ tenure that the Bank purchased the historic Masonic Lodge building. There was some rationalisation of functions. The Facilities Management Department was established, while the Exchange Control and the ECG Departments were merged into a new department - Foreign Exchange and Export Credit. The pace of exchange control liberalisation was intensified and security and surveillance were enhanced. Williams was a fearless defender of the Bank, and its reputation benefited from her willingness to engage the media, her many speeches and scholarly writings, in particular her three books, as well as her participation in conferences, seminars and panel discussions. She ensured that the Bank had a position on the critical issues of the day and a voice at important gatherings of policy-makers and academics. Dr. DeLisle Worrell was appointed governor from November 1, 2009, after being away from the Bank since 1998. He had spent 10 of those years as an adviser with the Money and Capital Markets Department of the IMF and the rest of the time as the director of the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance (CCMF) in Trinidad and Tobago. The