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Today, he held a press conference to discuss how those meetings went. But, before that, he gave a background of the problem explaining that part of the calculations that the tier 1 banks are factoring into their termination of correspondent relationships is that they are risking billions of dollars in fines to make a few millions in Belize. Here's how he explained it.

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"The banks in the US have to satisfy certain regulatory requirements that the US authorities imposed on those banks and these regulations all have to do with the global fight against money laundering and the global fight to combat the financing of terrorism. So that those banks in the US in dealing with the banks in Belize and elsewhere in the world, in our region and in Africa and i the Middle-east have to ensure that they don't run afoul of the regulations that govern them with respect to guarding against transactions that violate the anti-money laundering laws and violate the laws that seek to combat the financing of terrorism."

"In order for them to comply with their regulations, there is a cost. Ultimately the de-risking came about because the banks in the US decided that it is simply not worth their while to continue with small banks in small jurisdictions where the volume of business and the margins that they, the banks in the US make are small. I saw where one of their key officials said well - basically what the US banks are telling us, why in order for me to make a million dollars doing business with you band Norte, why would I exposed myself to the risk that if something goes wrong, I am fined a billion dollars by the regulators in the States. It's just not worth it."

"When you apply that to Belize where we are. Bank of America was doing what? Maybe 6-7 million dollars a year with our domestic banks in business - they clearly decided it not worth the risk that if something goes wrong, there is no suggestion that things are likely to go wrong, but there is always a possibility. If something go wrong, we figure Bank of America worked it out, we will have to pay millions of dollars in fines - tens of millions of dollars in order to make 6 million dollars from Belize. It's not worth and so we pull out."

So that's the background, but now to the meetings themselves where the Prime Minister and his senior finance team met with 3 high ranking officials at the highest levels of the US Financial system:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"We met firstly with the office of the controller of the currency, the OCC and we met with the head of that office, Mr. Thomas Curry. One of the reasons we met with that office is because the OCC is regulator for thousands of banks including a small bank out of New York that was doing one aspect of the correspondent banking business with us. We were very pleased to get the confirmation from the OCC that it didn't know of the particular bank we are talking about that is now saying it will pull out. It's a small bank. The OCC regulates thousands of banks. The name was not immediately recognizable to them. But they gave us the assurance that if that little bank is pulling out it cannot be as a consequence of anything said to it, hinted to it, signaled to it by the OCC, suggesting that well there is something little bit shaky about the Belize jurisdiction and you might want to consider your options. We met with the FDIC because there is a particular bank that the governor of the central bank and the individual banks in Belize have been talking to, seeking to start a correspondent banking relationship with that bank and as I said, the FDIC is the direct regulator of that particular bank. I won't call the name."

"Again, we were able to get from the FDIC a replication of the message we received from the OCC. There is nothing wrong with the Belize jurisdiction and in terms of this bank that we told them we were pursuing, which bank they knew right away. Because it's a big enough bank. They were able to assure us that they would actually transmit that message themselves to the bank, that the Belize jurisdiction is fine. We met the actual secretary of the treasury, United States Secretary of the Treasury Mr. Jack Lew. And again, the message was basically the same that there is nothing wrong with the Belize jurisdiction and that while the treasury recognized that the regulatory burden on the banks in the States made some of them feel that it was less than cost effective to do business with these small jurisdictions, the treasury wanted it to be made clear that banks should not seek to scapegoat the regulators in the US. All the regulators in the US are doing is to say to them - you know what the regulatory requirements are, you know what the regulatory burden is."

So, according to the Prime Minister the take away from all of this is that Belize must actively pursue corresponding relationships with smaller US banks, which aren't in the top 10. He said that one of the regulators promised to spread the information to those small bankers that they should consider doing business in Belize if it fits their business model.

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"What we have realized as government and for the most part as private sector bankers in this country is that in going after new correspondent banking relationships, we perhaps should not be seeking to deal with the top ten US banks such as Bank of America because of what I've just said. The business is so minuscule that it's hard to interest them. But there are banks not quite as big. There are even small banks such as the one in New York that can do the job just as well as a big bank."

"But the domestic banks in this country, I need to make clear, have made every effort to ensure that their infrastructure for fighting money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism. Their infrastructure to make sure that no tainted transactions will find its way through in terms of their own system. Our banks have been exceptional in making the investment."

"The confirmation that we got from every single regulatory authority with which we met that there is nothing wrong with the Belize jurisdiction."

Daniel Ortiz
"Is it a consideration of you gentlemen that the regulatory authorities you spoke to may have been giving lip service to you all?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Not at all and I don't want you to think that it's because I am naive or believe that the Americans are inherently truth tellers and moral than the rest of us. But I don't believe that they were snowing us. Well, that not a right term to use. You notice that I came and have on my short sleeve. I am happy to be out of the cold. I don't think there would be any reason for them not to be straight with us because to be perfectly frank, we are a small jurisdiction. What can we do to them? Why would they need to play fast.... why would they need to sort of jolly us along?"

According the Prime Minister the next step is that for his Government and the Bankers themselves to reach out to these smaller banks.