St. Lucia Development Bank

#4 Bridge Street, PO Box CP5900, Castries, SAINT LUCIA
Tel: (758) 456-7532/7513
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: www.sldb.lc

The Saint Lucia Development Bank (SLDB) is a wholly owned statutory corporation owned by the Government of Saint Lucia. In 2002, a former Saint Lucia Development Bank was merged with the former National Commercial Bank to form the Bank of Saint Lucia, with a view that the new entity would assume the functions of development banking alongside its commercial banking function. However, the merger resulted in a loss of focus on development banking in the new entity and it was felt that the re-establishment of the Bank would be a catalyst for developmental activity in Saint Lucia. Through an Act of Parliament No. 12 of 2008, the Saint Lucia Development Bank was re-established and opened for business on February 24, 2009.

According to the Act, the SLDB as a body corporate is mandated:

“to mobilize and provide finance for and promote and facilitate the expansion and strengthening of the economic development of Saint Lucia and foster the development of money and capital markets in Saint Lucia and member states of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States.”

More specifically, under Section 5(2), the Bank is required to pursue normal development banking activities, such as accepting deposits; negotiating and accepting loans and credits; making loans and credits for “development enterprises” in the areas of agriculture, fishing, forestry, manufacturing/industry, tourism, education, services and other areas deemed a development enterprise by the responsible government minister. The Bank is also mandated to provide technical assistance to development enterprises; and such other things considered necessary in the pursuit of socio-economic and capital market development in Saint Lucia and the sub-region.

In pursuit of its mandate, the Bank also operates a subsidiary company, Youth Enterprises Equity Fund (YEEF) designed to provide equity financing to economically and financially viable enterprises promoted by young persons between the age of 18 -35 years.

The SLDB Act #12 of 2008 provides for a Board of Directors comprising a maximum of 11 persons to oversee the operations of the Bank, however, the current Board comprise 10 persons drawn from the Ministry of Finance, the National Insurance Corporation and other economic sectors within the community.

There are five Board Committees, namely;
(i) Human Resource and Compensation (ii) Audit and Governance (iii) Finance and Budget (iv) Information, Communications and Technology (v) Credit

The Bank is regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) established by an Act No. 13 of 2011. The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) is the single regulatory body which licenses, supervises and regulates the operations of the financial sector.

The Bank’s loan portfolio balance at the quarter ended December 31, 2020 was $86.4 million.