Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre and Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Governor Timothy Antoine have welcomed the launch of the Bank of Saint Lucia (BOSL) Global Investment Fund.
According to the BOSL, the Fund is a professionally managed investment opportunity.
It pools money from many investors to invest in stocks, bonds, or other securities, with the investors sharing the returns and risks.
Prime Minister Pierre, responsible for finance, expects the Fund to drive efficiency, spur innovation, lower transaction costs, and provide increased investment options.
“The BOSL is known for excellence, and we are certain that those standards will be maintained,” the Saint Lucia Prime Minister wrote on Facebook.
Pierre said the Government of Saint Lucia is exceedingly pleased with the Bank of Saint Lucia’s entry into the mutual fund space.
“As a government, we seek to create the enabling environment for a financial sector that is globally competitive, well-regulated, diversified, market-driven, and responsive to our local realities,” he expressed.
According to Pierre, the Bank of Saint Lucia’s Fund Management Company aligns very well with this vision.
ECCB Governor Timothy Antoine also welcomed the BOSL initiative.
Antoine explained that BOSL had become the first indigenous bank in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) to do so.
He said the launch of the BOSL Global Investment Fund boosted the ECCB ‘Big Push’ challenge.
Regarding the ‘Big Push,’ the ECCB Governor recalled that at last year’s launch of his institution’s 40th-anniversary celebration, he posed the ‘provocative question’ of what it would take to double the currency union’s economy size over the next decade.
“That means moving from 21 billion to 42 billion,” he explained.
He said for Saint Lucia, it means moving from 5.5 billion to 11 billion.
Antoine also observed that wealth creation, one of the drivers he identified in the ‘Big Push’ is an important pathway to prosperity and resilience while improving financial literacy is ‘imperative and urgent.’
“I called attention to the fact that almost three in five persons in the United States, or sixty percent, are investing in the U.S. stock market. In contrast, only one in twenty-five persons in the ECCU or four percent are investing in the Eastern Caribbean securities market,” he recalled saying.
In addition, he said he proposed raising the number to one in five persons or twenty percent in the next decade.
Antoine said the launch of the BOSL Global Investment Fund is in line with the ECCB’s strategic direction, including financial inclusion and wealth creation.
Fix the crime SIR
Now here is a commendable instrument for everyone to participate in. Some may imagine that this is only for people with money; but everyone can participate. And here is how: the same way three persons can buy LOTTO tickets as a group and share the wings
Now here is a commendable instrument for everyone to participate in. Some may imagine that this is only for people with money; but everyone can participate. And here is how: the same way three persons can buy LOTTO tickets as a group and share the winnings, in like manner a group of persons can pool some of their disposable income backed by a Notarized Agreement on Earnings Sharing. They then invest as a Group in the BOSL Investment Fund.
Excellent initiative..but now you must educate the public to get in on this investment initiative…great way to share and minimise the risk but also benefit from the reward…but the public must be educated on this investment initiative…I trust the BOSL manage this portfolio in a manner that brings benefit to the country and every investor….
My take is our financial bodies are somewhat not oppertinistic given in context the realms of commerce that exists at present. This give the leeway for growth economically. We do not have a insurer for financial security therefore the words being used when someone are investing in this nature they need to read the fine print and do not rush as it maybe sold to you as if it is a gold rush. If any insurer can provide guarantee then it worth while if not your dividend will vaporize easily. That being said AML needs to be extremely vigilant.
This is a good initiative, but I want to remind everyone that timing is very important in investing. Pay attention to the US interest rate cycle and figure out if this is the right time.