A financial institution is a company that engages in the business of dealing with both

financial and monetary transactions like deposits, loans, investments, currency exchange, etc.
(Investopedia, 2019). Financial institutions encompass of a broad range of business operations
within financial services. In Belize, some of these include commercial banks, insurance
companies, brokerage firms, credit unions, finance corporations (DFC being the only one), trust
funds, among others. Like in every other country, financial institutions are regulated. In Belize,
Financial Institutions are regulated by the Central Bank.
The Central Bank of Belize takes the responsibility for regulating all banks and financial
institutions to make sure they all abide and adhere to the laws, acts, and regulations in place. The
Central Bank exercises tight oversight over the banking industry and requires that banks retain
suitable liquidity and asset ratios in respect of loans and liabilities. (Belize et al., 2019). Financial
institutions in Belize are profit driven, which means that there is competition among them.
Therefore, consumers have many options to choose from. Whether they see it more convenient or
affordable for them. At the moment, the commercial banks in Belize have excess liquidity, which
means that they have cash surplus. This benefits consumers because interest rates on loans are low
during this time. All in all, financial institutions play a key role in the economy with the flow of
money, as well as intermediaries between borrowers and lenders.

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Belize.com. Available at: https://belize.com/belize-banks/ [Accessed 29 Aug. 2019].

Investopedia. (2019). Financial Institutions: What We All Need to Know. [online] Available at:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financialinstitution.asp [Accessed 29 Aug. 2019].