

9
ECCB ANNUAL REPORT 2016/2017
The Bank also continued to engage member states
on the issue of developing and sustaining strong
policy units in the Ministries of Finance to assist with
supporting more empirical decision making.
RESHAPING ORGANISATIONAL
EFFECTIVENESS
The ECCB acknowledges that there have been
significant changes in the governance structure of
the global economic and financial landscape, which
have intensified and consolidated in the post global
economic and financial crisis epoch. Changes in
the international, legal and regulatory frameworks
governing markets, especially financial markets, have
resulted in central banks taking a closer look at the
efficacyof theirgovernancearrangementsandmethods
used to deliver services. The acknowledgement
of the changing environment in which the Bank
operates and the prospective challenges it is likely
to encounter, prompted the development of a new
Strategic Plan (2017-2021), titled:
Transforming the
Eastern Caribbean Currency Union
. It is intended for
the plan to identify how the ECCB’s organisational
effectiveness, one of the key strategic pillars, can be
improved. During the financial year, a number of
initiatives were pursued and some key changes made in
fulfilment of this objective. Of note, were the targeted
changes made to adapting the organisational structure
and learning systems to better align them with the
realities of the new environment in which the Bank
operates. An Office of Risk Management with a Chief
Risk Officer, reporting directly to the Governor, was
created as the Bank sought to implement its Enterprise
Risk Management Framework in an attempt to pursue
a more holistic approach to risk management. An
important upgrade to the organisational structure
was the creation of a Strategic Planning and Projects
Department (SPPD)
which will be the focal point for
strategic policy development and monitoring, policy
counsel to theBank’s leadership, policy formulationand
coordination, project management and coordination
of the Bank’s financial and economic developmental
initiatives.
The need to ensure that international best practices
are adhered to in all aspects of the Bank’s operations
resulted in a refocusing of the mandate of the Internal
Audit Department (IAD) on assurance responsibilities.
The Human Resource Department (HRD) was also the
focus of a number of strategic interventions aimed at
strengthening its capacity to deliver on its keymandate.
The IAD conducted compliance and diagnostic needs
assessments of some departments, with a view to
addressing impediments that impact the robustness
of the Bank’s decision-making framework. Sharp focus
was placed on returning the Bank to profitability and
reviewing the foreign reserve management policies
An important upgrade to the organisational structure was the creation of a new
Strategic Planning and Projects Department (SPPD) which will be the focal point for
strategic policy development and monitoring, policy counsel to the Bank’s leadership,
policy formulation and coordination, project management and coordination of the
Bank’s financial and economic developmental initiatives.