Antiguan bank taken over to prevent collapse
Monday July 25 2011 | 04:08 AM

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has taken control of the Antigua & Barbuda Investment Bank to save it from collapse in a move that officials say will not affect deposits.

The Antiguan bank had inadequate liquid assets and could not meet the statutory reserve requirement, Central Bank Governor Dwight Venner said late Friday.

"I therefore appeal to all depositors and creditors to bear with us while we sort out the problems with which the ABI Bank is now faced," he said.

The announcement comes after extensive consultations with the Antiguan government, the Central Bank and the Eastern Caribbean Monetary Council, said Harold Lovell, Antigua's finance minister.

The ABI bank is one of the few locally owned banks in Antigua. It began operating in 1990 after it acquired the Fidelity Trust Bank and had an asset base of $346.7 million in 2009, according to its website.

The bank employs about 117 people and is the flagship for the ABI Financial Group, which includes ABI Development, ABI Insurance, ABI Trust and Antigua Overseas Bank.

The intervention comes two years after the Central Bank assumed control of the Bank of Antigua, an R. Allen Stanford affiliate.

The Central Bank is based in St. Kitts and oversees monetary operations in eight eastern Caribbean islands.