Find Banking and Financial Services expertise in Solomon Islands
- Banks
- Regulation
- Development
Banks
The financial sector in the Solomon Islands is relatively small and under-developed. There are three commercial banks: ANZ, Westpac and the National Bank of the Solomon Islands, which was sold to the Bank of South Pacific of Papua New Guinea in 2007. As a result, all the banks in the country are currently foreign owned (2012).
Regulation of Financial Services
The regulation and supervision of the financial sector in the Solomon Islands is the responsibility of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI). Financial institutions are largely self-regulating, though they must operate within the prudential framework set out by the CBSI and in line with the Financial Institutions Act 1998.
Development of Financial Services
In the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index (2011), the Solomon Islands come in a strong 8th position out of 24 East Asian and Pacific countries in overall ease of doing business. This good standing is maintained in getting credit (10th position) and protecting investors (7th position), although this is only relative to region. In absolute terms businesses suffer from limited access to credit and a large percentage of the population are not part of the formal banking sector. To combat this, the government introduced the Small Business Finance Scheme in 2007, and in 2008 bank credits to the private sector grew by 30%. The Central Bank acts as the main guarantor to the scheme with a focus on small and medium enterprises concerned with export or rural business ventures. Eligible parties are Solomon Islanders, co-operatives, or companies owned and controlled by such, and joint venture companies of which 50% must be owned by a Solomon Islander. Another similar initiative, which is modelled on a New Zealand scheme and in fact primarily funded by the New Zealand government, is the Solomon Islands Small Business Enterprise. The focus of this is to provide affordable business skills education to Islanders.
Banking and Financial Services organisations in Solomon Islands | |
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ANZ Solomon Islands |
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BSP Bank |
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Westpac |
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