By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Minister of Financial Services yesterday said the Bahamas had to “get ahead” of the policy cycle when it came to G-20/OECD initiatives targeting international financial centres, and become more than an ‘offshore centre’.
Ryan Pinder, addressing the second CARIFORUM conference on international financial services in the region, said the Bahamas had to transform itself into one of the world’s “preeminent international business jurisdictions”.
And he added that an “expedited licence application review process” for independent asset managers seeking to establish a base in the Bahamas had been agreed with the Securities Commission.
Referring to the constant G-20/OECD pressures on international financial centres, Mr Pinder said: “In the face of what seems to be constant and every evolving international standards and pressures on international financial centres, we have to get ahead of the policy shifts and be known as more than an ‘offshore jurisdiction’ but be known as the preeminent international business jurisdictions of the world.”
His address was largely a re-run of previously stated policy and strategy positions, particularly linking financial services and its growth to the development of the Bahamas as a regional manufacturing and trade hub.
“Our geographic location, tax environment and developed infrastructure allows the Bahamas to be the manufacturing and trade hub to the Americas, connecting Europe, Asia and the Far East to the Americas,” Mr Pinder said.
“A country promoting a trade agenda as the access to the Americas allows for the natural expansion of the financial services sector, coordinating it with industry linkage.
“As a dominant trade hub, many sectors of financial services can be attracted and developed to support this arm of our economy in international trade and industrial development. These include sectors such as international shipping insurance, commercial banking, investment banking, short-term loans that are needed to facilitate commercial transactions internationally.
“These are viewed as legitimate financial services sectors that facilitate business, a position that is much more accepted in the international business and regulatory environment. Dominant in trade, dominant in financial services.”
Suggesting that the Bahamas could be the “gateway to the Americas”, Mr Pinder reaffirmed its commitment to client confidentiality and strong partnerships between the private and public sectors.
Comments
banker 11 years, 5 months ago
The international news about the Bahamas Financial Services is about Batoo, BC Capital, Benchmark, Gibraltar, Caledonia, Montaque, Victor Korzeny and all sorts of publicity that the Bahamas doesn't need. We are not the premier financial services center of the Caribbean. That honour belongs to the Cayman Islands. The Bahamas will never catch up because of the corruption within the Bahamas Bar Association.
Trying to sell our services internationally is trying to put lipstick on a pig. We cannot become a business jurisdiction because of the Central Bank restrictions on money movement. Our infrastructure is antiquated. We are behind the times in expertise, technology and visionary thinking. All of these statements are boilerplate motherhood statements and will remain so until the Bahamas gets a white collar criminal code that is consistent G20-OECD best practices.
Many of the characters cited above in the infamous Bahamian cases are not under indictment in the Bahamas because they broke no Bahamian laws, yet facilitated the breaking of laws around the world. The Bahamas will not move forward until the government becomes more enlightened about the state of tax havens in the first world countries.
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