The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER Senator yesterday said regulation was “no substitute” for good governance at financial services institutions.

Cheryl Bazard, attorney and founding Bahamas Association of Compliance Officers (BACO) president, said: “In the Bahamas there has always been a heavy dependence on regulatory discipline. In 1999, when we were under the threat of blacklisting, we passed a slew of legislation.

“While regulation is important, it is no substitute for the need for entities to govern themselves responsibly. There can never be a substitute for that, and that cannot be stressed enough. The real challenge is, internally, a culture of good governance.”

Addressing a Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) conference on corporate governance and accountability, Mrs Bazard also advocated a ‘“bottom up” approach to cooperate governance.

“Directors may not fully understand the day-to-day workings of their organisations,” she explained. “If you have the guy in from the bottom up, then it will drive the concept of cooperate governance more deeply within an organisation.”

Mrs Bazard agreed that the financial services sector is “under siege”. “The financial services sector is under siege whether we wish to accept it or not, and we have to find new ways to reinvent the wheel or resurrect what once was the Switzerland in the Caribbean,” she added.

Having recently returned from Jamaica’s annual Anti-Money Laundering (AML)/Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) conference, Mrs Bazard said the Bahamas must be careful regarding its pronouncements on the web shop gaming industry, warning: “The international community is listening.”