BILL TO ESTABLISH REGIONAL CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT REGULATOR REVIEWED AT ECCU LEGAL MEETING IN ANGUILLA

Basseterre, Saint Kitts, May 14, 2025: The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis announces that the first draft of the Bill to establish a Regional Regulator for Caribbean Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programmes has been reviewed by the attorneys general and Chief Parliamentary Counsel of the five OECS Member States which operate CBI Programmes. The discussions took place during the Seventh Meeting of ECCU Attorneys General and Chief Parliamentary Counsel, held in Anguilla from May 7–9, 2025.

This legislative milestone follows extensive regional collaboration among the five CBI-participating ECCU Member States – Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Kitts and Nevis – and marks the next step in fulfilling commitments made under the March 2024, Memorandum of Agreement to harmonise, regulate, and strengthen regional CBI operations through a unified legal and institutional framework.

The draft Bill, prepared by Legal Drafting Consultant, Lydia Elliott, was presented to the legal and regulatory leadership of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) for scrutiny, feedback, and refinement. The enabling legislation, once enacted across participating Member States, will formally establish the regional regulator as a separate legal entity to oversee compliance, transparency, and integrity in the CBI industry in accordance with international best practices.

The Regional Regulator will be responsible for matters such as issuing regional CBI policies, licensing agents/marketers, approving due-diligence frameworks, auditing national CBI Units, maintaining a public register of licensees, and deterring deceptive practices.

This initiative is spearheaded by the Interim Regulatory Commission (IRC), an eight-member body comprised of legal, financial, compliance, and enforcement experts from the five participating States, the ECCB, OECS Commission, and CARICOM IMPACS. Over the past two months, the IRC led public consultations in the five Member States, which involved input from the Governments, opposition politic parties, civil society stakeholders and the general public.

“This draft legislation represents the culmination of a historic reform effort that began in December 2022, when Saint Kitts and Nevis took bold, first-in-region steps to reposition the CBI industry for sustainability, credibility, and resilience,” said the Honourable Garth Wilkin, Attorney-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis, who attended the discussions. “With the regional regulator now in sight, we are closing the loop on those reforms. This is a governance safeguard for the future of our economic security and our reputation on the global stage.”

According to Attorney General Wilkin, the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that the CBI industry remains a legitimate and respected tool for national development, responsive to both domestic needs and international expectations. The region-wide effort to regulate, monitor, and modernise this vital economic pillar sends a clear signal – the Caribbean is serious about transparency, accountability, and long-term resilience of its CBI programmes.

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