The Caribbean Regional Compliance Association (CRCA) in partnership with the International Compliance Association (ICA) held the third annual Caribbean Regional Conference, aptly entitled “The Compliance EXPLOSION” at the Hilton Hotel, Needham’s Point, Barbados on the 23rd and 24th October 2006.

The event can only be described as having been a huge success. Followed by a one day Workshop the conference and the workshop between them attracted over 170 attendees from 22 jurisdictions.
The evening before the conference the sponsors and exhibitors gathered in the exhibition hall alongside their stands. As people flew in from around the world the numbers swelled. Soon the room was full of people discussing the offerings of the exhibitors and related issues, aided by a liberal supply of the locally produced rum punc

The following day the conference was opened by Carolyn Hanson, a member of the CRCA and the International Course Director for the ICA. It is chiefly due to Carolyn’s tremendous efforts, along with Springstreet (the event organisers) that this conference took place. Working tirelessly for months before the event, as well as during the event itself, they ensured that things went off without any hitches.

Day one saw speakers delivering insightful presentations from various jurisdictions around the world on a variety of topics ranging from outsourcing to communications with a short regulatory round up for selected Caribbean jurisdictions. The day was rounded off with a cocktail reception held just outside the conference centre, alongside the beach. With steel drums playing and more locally produced rum cocktails plentiful, delegates were soon enjoying the opportunity to discuss issues in a very informal and picturesque setting.

Day two saw further excellent and varied presentations in the morning. The afternoon followed a different format. The Course Directors for the International Compliance Association, Carolyn Hanson, Sharon Ward and Andrew Glover, each hosted a “breakout session”, which they ran twice in succession. Delegates were invited to attend any two of the three sessions offered the topics being Compliance Officers’ Toolkit, Compliance Training for All Staff and Managing a Successful Investigation.

The smaller grouping allowed for more focussed and in depth interaction and the sessions received extremely good feedback. The day concluded with a delivery from the keynote speaker Jeffrey Robinson, author of landmark books in the AML field, including The Laundrymen and The Sink. The conference was brought to a close by the Chief Executive of the ICA, Bill Howarth and Carolyn Hanson on behalf of CRCA.

Wednesday saw a separate Risk Based Assessment Training workshop. Here the ICA Course Directors and two of the ICA course tutors, Doug Hopton and David Blackmore, delivered presentations along with guest speaker Lauren Pickett from Citigroup. Looking at the implementation of the Risk Based approach throughout the business the presentations raised much useful discussion. The event was fully subscribed and the feedback from delegates was that they found it both extremely informative and well as hugely practical.

In conclusion, many people hailed this as one of the best, maybe even the best, conference they had ever attended. This is clear testimony of the hard work by the organisers and speakers. Our sincere thanks go to the sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and all those who worked so hard to make the event a huge success.