SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP):

Antigua banking regulators will make a preliminary inquiry into the operations of a bank that is under the scrutiny of United States financial authorities, officials in the twin-island Caribbean nation said.

The Financial Services Regulatory Commission of Antigua and Barbuda will set up a meeting with representatives of Stanford International Bank Ltd to discuss the US probe, but has not launched its own investigation, said Lebrecht Hesse, the twin-island nation's solicitor general.

"They have to make preliminary inquiries," said Hesse, the commission's chairman. "They have to meet with the subject of the investigation and find out what is going on."

Commission officials are planning the meeting in response to news media reports about the probe of the Antigua-based bank and its Houston, Texas-based parent, Stanford Group Co.

Investment returns

The commission also acted after the US Securities and Exchange Commission notified Anti-guan regulators it was seeking information about the bank, Hesse said.

US officials have said they are investigating the Stanford Group and how it managed to consistently post healthy investment returns and offer higher-than-average rates on certificates of deposit with the offshore bank, even as many institutions suffered in the financial meltdown.

The bank is controlled by R. Allen Stanford, a Texas billionaire who was knighted by the island's government in 2006 and lives on St Croix in the US Virgin Islands. His bank reported deposits of US$8.4 billion at the end of last year and the investment company says it manages US$50 billion.