View source for Eastern Caribbean Central Bank

{{Short description|Supranational central bank}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2025}}
{{Redirect|ECCB}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox Central bank
|logo = Eastern Caribbean Central Bank logo.png
|image = ECCB 2024.jpg
|caption =
|headquarters   = [[Basseterre]], [[St. Kitts]]
|established = October 1983
|ownership = 100% [[state ownership]]<ref name="dnbinfo">{{cite web |last1=Weidner |first1=Jan |title=The Organisation and Structure of Central Banks |url=https://d-nb.info/1138787981/34 |website=Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek|year=2017|format=PDF}}</ref>
|reserves = 1 560 million USD<ref name="dnbinfo"/>
|bank_of        = {{Collapsible list |title=[[Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States|OECS]]|''[[Anguilla]]'', [[Antigua and Barbuda]], [[Dominica]], [[Grenada]], ''[[Montserrat]]'', [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]], [[Saint Lucia]], and [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]]}}
|president          = [[Timothy Antoine]]
|leader_title       = Governor
|currency           = [[Eastern Caribbean dollar]]
|currency_iso       = XCD
|website            = {{URL|https://www.eccb-centralbank.org|eccb-centralbank.org}}
}}

The '''Eastern Caribbean Central Bank''' ('''ECCB''')<ref name="UIA">{{Cite web |url=https://uia.org/s/or/en/1100046240 |url-access= |title=Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) |author1=Staff writer |year=2024 |department=UIA Global Civil Society Database |website=uia.org |publisher=[[Union of International Associations]] |agency=Yearbook of International Organizations Online |location=Brussels, Belgium |doi-broken-date= |access-date=8 January 2025 |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote= |trans-quote= }}</ref> is a [[Supranationalism|supranational]] [[central bank]] that serves [[Anguilla]], [[Antigua and Barbuda]], [[Dominica]], [[Grenada]], [[Montserrat]], [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]], [[Saint Lucia]], and [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]], all members of the [[Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States]] (OECS) that use the ECCB-issued [[Eastern Caribbean Dollar]] as their currency. (Three other OECS members, the [[British Virgin Islands]], Guadeloupe and [[Martinique]] use other currencies.) The ECCB was established in 1983, succeeding the '''British Caribbean Currency Board''' (1950–1965) and the '''Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority''' (1965–1983). It is also in charge of [[bank supervision]] within its geographical remit.
Two of its core mandates are to maintain price and financial sector stability, by acting as a stabiliser and safe-guard of the banking system in the Eastern Caribbean Economic and Currency Union (OECS/ECCU).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schipke|first1=Alfred|last2=Cebotari|first2=Aliona|last3=Thacker|first3=Nita|title=The Eastern Caribbean Economic and Currency Union: Macroeconomics and Financial Systems|date=2013|publisher=International Monetary Fund|page=381|isbn=9781475577693|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vpx75PEpF3QC&q=eastern+caribbean+central+bank+history&pg=PA381|access-date=12 September 2017}}</ref> The bank is headquartered in [[Basseterre]], [[St. Kitts]].

==Background==
In 1946, a West Indian Currency Conference saw [[Barbados]], British Guiana, the [[British Leeward Islands|Leeward Islands]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]] and the [[British Windward Islands|Windward Islands]] agree to establish a unified decimal currency system based on a West Indian dollar to replace the earlier arrangement of having three different Boards of Commissioners of Currency for Barbados (which also served the Leeward and Windward Islands), British Guiana, and Trinidad & Tobago.<ref name=ECCU/><ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1946/jun/05/west-indies-decimal-currency WEST INDIES (DECIMAL CURRENCY)], 5 June 1946, British House of Commons Hansard</ref> in 1950, the British Caribbean Currency Board (BCCB) was set up in [[Trinidad]],<ref name="Small States, Smart Solutions">{{cite book | last1 = Favaro | first1 = Edgardo | editor-first1 = Edgardo M. | editor-last1 = Favaro | title = Small States, Smart Solutions: Improving Connectivity and Increasing the Effectiveness of Public Services | chapter = Banking Supervision in OECS Countries | publisher = World Bank Publications | year = 2008 | doi = 10.1596/978-0-8213-7460-3 | isbn = 978-0-8213-7460-3 | url = https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/6416 | access-date = 26 February 2013}}</ref> with the sole right to issue notes and coins of the new unified currency and given the mandate of keeping full foreign exchange cover to ensure convertibility at {{val|p=$|4}}.80 per pound sterling.<ref name=ECCU>{{cite book | last1 = Van Beek | first1 = Fritz | title = The Eastern Caribbean Currency Union: Institutions, Performance, and Policy Issues | chapter = The Financial System | publisher = International Monetary Fund | year = 2000 | url = http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=3632.0 | access-date = 26 February 2013}}</ref>

In 1951, the British Virgin Islands joined the arrangement, but this led to discontent because that territory was more naturally drawn to the currency of the neighbouring [[United States Virgin Islands|US Virgin Islands]]. In 1961, the British Virgin Islands withdrew from the arrangement and adopted the US dollar as its currency. In 1964, [[Trinidad and Tobago]] withdrew from the currency union (adopting the [[Trinidad and Tobago dollar]]) forcing the movement of the headquarters of the BCCB to [[Barbados]].<ref name=ECCU/>

Under the Eastern Caribbean Currency Agreement 1965, the British West Indies dollar was replaced at par by the [[Eastern Caribbean dollar]] and the BCCB was replaced by the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority (ECCA).<ref name = "Small States, Smart Solutions" /> [[British Guiana]] withdrew from the currency union in 1966. [[Grenada]], which had used the Trinidad and Tobago dollar from 1964, rejoined the common currency arrangement in 1968.<ref name=ECCU/> Barbados withdrew from the currency union in 1972, following which the ECCA headquarters were moved to [[Basseterre]] in St. Kitts.<ref name=ECCU/>

== History ==
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Agreement, signed at [[Port of Spain]] on 5 July 1983, established the ECCB as the successor entity of the ECCA, tasked with maintaining the stability and integrity of the subregion's currency and [[banking system]] to facilitate the balanced growth and development of its member states.

Unlike the ECCA, the ECCB's competencies include [[banking supervision]] jointly with the member states' finance ministries, making it the first-ever supranational banking supervisor ahead of the [[Central Bank of West African States]] and [[Bank of Central African States]] (which both became banking supervisors in 1990) and [[European Central Bank]] (in 2014). The specific role of the ECCB in the supervision of offshore banks, however, varies across OECS countries, leading the [[International Monetary Fund]] to observe in 2013 the persistence of "gaps in the regulatory framework" applicable to offshore banks.<ref>{{cite conference |book-title=The Eastern Caribbean Economic and Currency Union: Macroeconomics and Financial Systems |editor=Alfred Schipke |editor2= Aliona Cebotari |editor3=Nita Thacker |year=2013 |publisher=International Monetary Fund |location=Washington DC |title=Chapter 15: The Role of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank |url=https://www.elibrary.imf.org/display/book/9781616352653/ch015.xml |author=Phil Rose}}</ref>

In early 2015, the bank announced plans to phase out the production of the 1 and 2-cent pieces. The date was finalised as 1 July 2015. When a motive was sought, it was stated that it takes about six cents to make one cent pieces and about eight cents to make a 2-cent piece.

== Governors ==
* Sir [[Cecil Jacobs]], 1973 to 1989<ref name="governors">{{Cite web|url=https://www.eccb-centralbank.org/p/former-governors-and-deputy-governors|title=Former Governors and Deputy Governors &#124; Eastern Caribbean Central Bank|access-date=2020-05-28|archive-date=2023-05-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529111738/https://www.eccb-centralbank.org/p/former-governors-and-deputy-governors|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Sir [[K. Dwight Venner]], 1989 to 2015<ref name="governors"/>
* [[Timothy Antoine]], since 2015<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eccb-centralbank.org/About/index.asp|title=About the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank|website=eccb-centralbank.org|access-date=2016-09-21|archive-date=2019-09-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190912233212/https://www.eccb-centralbank.org/About/index.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Banks}}
* [[Economy of the Caribbean]]
* [[SUCRE]] (Unified System for Regional Compensation)
* [[Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange]]
* [[Currencies of the British West Indies]]
* [[Central Bank of Aruba]]
* [[Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten]]
* [[Central banks and currencies of the Caribbean]]
* [[List of central banks]]
* [[List of financial supervisory authorities by country]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.eccb-centralbank.org  Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Web site]

{{Central banks|Lists}}
{{Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)}}
{{Caribbean topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Banks established in 1983]]
[[Category:Banks of the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Banks of Dominica]]
[[Category:Banks of Saint Lucia]]
[[Category:Central banks]]
[[Category:Economy of Anguilla]]
[[Category:Economy of Antigua and Barbuda]]
[[Category:Economy of Grenada]]
[[Category:Economy of Montserrat]]
[[Category:Economy of Saint Kitts and Nevis]]
[[Category:Economy of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]]
[[Category:Economy of the Caribbean Community]]
[[Category:Economy of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States]]