The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) confirmed on Monday that a new Supervisory Committee – a part of the Banking Services Act (BSA) which came into force in September 2015 – is now in full operation with its own staffed secretariat at Nethersole Place in Kingston.

Meeting now once a month, the Supervisory Committee (SC) is a broad-based decision-making body.

It is expected to advise and make recommendations on the grant and revocation of licences; the determination as to whether a person is fit and proper; applications regarding corporate and group restructuring, new products and services; development and enforcement of the Code of Conduct; and changes in the ownership of licensees.

It also oversees the making of regulations and rules as well as the issuing of guidance and standards of sound practice; the authorisation of arrangements for the sharing of information and other forms of co-operation with other regulators; and enforcement measures under the Banking Services Act, the BOJ outlined.

The Committee does not appear to have as wide a constituency as previously expected. It supervises deposit-taking institutions which currently are commercial banks, merchant banks and building societies.

Its role is outlined in more detail in section seven of the BSA. The SC now consists of five people, three of whom are ex-officio members and two appointed members who are independent of the Bank.

On the Committee sits the Governor of the Bank of Jamaica, who is the Supervisor of banks and financial institutions and Chairman of the Supervisory Committee, the Deputy Supervisor (that is, the Deputy Governor with responsibility for Supervision) and a member of the senior executive staff of the Bank with responsibility for financial stability oversight.

The BOJ said external members who were appointed are Professor David Tennant – professor of Development Finance, University of the West Indies, and Shirley-Ann Eaton – attorney-at-law.

They were appointed, the central bank noted, by the Governor General on the advice of the [Finance] Minister after consultation with the Governor. The appointment is for three years, with the members being eligible for reappointment.

As to the frequency of meeting, the BOJ said The Act [BSA] does not stipulate how often the committee should meet, noting that currently, meetings are held once per month at the Bank of Jamaica and more frequently when necessary.

The work of the Supervisory Committee is supported by the Financial Institutions Supervisory Division at the Bank of Jamaica as well as a full-time secretariat, the BOJ said. This division is responsible for the ongoing monitoring and supervision of individual licensees and the system, analysing and assessing requests from deposit-taking institutions and supporting the decision-making process of the SC.

As to costs associated with the new regulatory committee, the BOJ said the work of the SC is subsumed under the wider budget for supervision within the Bank.