Four of six Central Bank board members sworn in

June 05, 2011 4:20 PM

HARBOUR VIEW--Four of the six members of the Supervisory Board of Directors for the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten took the oath of office before Governor Eugene Holiday on Sint Maarten on Friday.

Three of the four directors - businessman Robbie Ferron, tax consultant Marciela Illidge, and attorney Jairo Bloem – were named by St. Maarten while the fourth - attorney Nelson Navarro was named by Curaçao.

Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto was present for the swearing-in ceremony held in the Governor's Office at Harbour View.

The remaining two directors for Curaçao, attorney Glenn Camelia and Reny Maduro of the University of the Netherlands Antilles, will take the oath in St. Maarten on Monday, according to the Governor's Cabinet.

All six directors will also have to take the oath of office before Curaçao Governor Frits Goedgedrag in the coming days.

The governments of St. Maarten and Curaçao submitted identical decrees with the six directors to the two governors. The chairman of the supervisory board is still to be chosen based on a joint decision of the two countries.

St. Maarten has named tax consultant Martin Hassink for the post. This has been communicated to Curaçao Finance Minister George Jamaloodin by Shigemoto on Tuesday. He also asked Jamaloodin to make the Curaçao candidate known to St. Maarten by Monday, June 16.

The Central Bank is headquartered in Willemstad, Curaçao. Shigemoto has written to the bank's president Emsley Tromp to do everything in his power to ensure that the branch on St. Maarten is "fully operational" by January 2012.

Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams told the press on Wednesday that St. Maarten needs to put in place mechanisms that will enable it "to be prepared for any eventuality" starting with having a bank here that would have the information and personnel who can "pick up the slack" when necessary.

4 June 2011