The individuals and institutions that felt the brunt of FINSAC's destructive force attribute the crisis to high interest rates. The Government that presided over it disagrees, pointing out that in two of the many countries that have had banking crises, low interest rates existed. They have also imputed that because the demise of a multi-industry Trinidadian conglomerate (CL Financial) was found to be the result of incompetent management, poor management within the Jamaican financial institutions was the cause of Jamaica's crisis.
But the record shows that the circumstances in which national banking crises may occur are unique to each country and will, therefore, require unique solutions. There have been more than 60 such national crises since the Second World War and they have been caused by a variety of factors, including sovereign debt default, collapsing commodity prices, rising interest rates, asset price bubbles and uncontrolled capital inflows or outflows.
Jamaica's financial-sector crisis, too, is unique and must be dispassionately studied and understood if we are to be able to repair the damage it caused, and benefit from the lessons offered through its experience.