A package of new financial laws enacted by the Free National Movement government on December 29, 2000 following a blacklisting of the Bahamas by the Financial Action Task Force, could be repealed.
“There will be a significant legislative package that will be unveiled in October when Parliament reconvenes, as a part of the five-year-strategic plan,” Financial Services Minister, Allyson Maynard-Gibson, a special guest on Island FM’s Parliament Street radio talk show, said on Sunday.
The House of Assembly reconvenes on October 9.
“Not only will there be new legislation, but there will be a significant number of amendments,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson told listeners to the show, hosted by Jessica Robertson and lawyer, Fayne Thompson.
When the existing 11 pieces of financial legislation were “forced” through Parliament, there was no cohesion and cross-referencing, she said, which resulted in a great deal of uncertainty in many areas as to what exactly the legislation was expected to achieve.
“It is not possible for advisors, in far too many circumstances, to advise with certainty, in regards to the outcome of certain courses of action. We will have to therefore amend (legislation) so that advisors can be placed in a position to advise with certainty and where investors can act with certainty as well,” she said.
Minister Maynard-Gibson said that when the 11 pieces of financial legislation were implemented in 2000, the government’s position in relation to the financial services sector was not one of mutual accommodation.
“Before December (2000), we were assiduously promoting that we were not going to be tax collectors, as well as privacy and banking secrecy, but overnight, without consultation with the sector, and with one fell swoop, our foundation was attacked,” she said.
According to Minister Maynard-Gibson, money laundering, to whatever extent it exists or existed, is no part of the PLP’s plan. She said that as they move forward, they do not want to be at a competitive disadvantage with any of the other jurisdictions.
“While we will address all of our money laundering issues, we certainly wish that London, New York, etc., would address those as well,” she said, adding that The Bahamas has failed to effectively utilize all of its tools to let others around the world know of the way the country does business.
“We have a clear judicial process. Due process is highly respected here in The Bahamas, and we have to be very clear with the means by which we do business,” Mrs
Maynard-Gibson said.
As the government moves forward with any plans relating to the financial services sector, there will be “consensus and consultation,” the Financial Services Minister said.
Everyone will move together with a long-term strategy in mind and as existing strategies are amended, it will not be the government alone making decisions, she promised.
“We will consult with interested parties, so that all understand and are committed to whatever it is that the government is doing,” said Mrs Maynard-Gibson.
Concerning The Bahamas being blacklisted in 2000, Maynard-Gibson said that such an event could have been avoided if such events were anticipated in advance.
“If this jurisdiction was engaged in proper planning and consultation with affected parties, we could have either anticipated or deflected this, or agreed on a course that we would follow if and when it arrived on our doorstep,” she said, adding that when The Bahamas was blacklisted, the financial services sector felt that they had not been adequately, if at all, consulted.
Stating that there is a difference between the former administration and the new PLP in dealing with such matters, Mrs Maynard-Gibson expounded: “We do mean that we regard the private sector as partners in national development, so when the five-year-strategic plan is agreed, there will be consensus on the public and the private sector side, so that the financial sector will proceed and grow over the next five years.”
Mrs Maynard-Gibson said that the Ministry of Financial Services and Investments will reveal its five-year-plan at the end of September. Well over $700 million of new investments, mainly in the tourism sector, will also be announced, she said.
“There will be investments that represent diversification of the economy. We will announce the projects that have been approved, those that are on the drawing board, and we also will engage in consultation on the islands affected, as we have done in Exuma,” she said.
The Ministry of Financial Services and Investments was designed to allow the financial sector to have a place at the Cabinet table, she said, as the sector accounts for 14 to 15 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. If indirect contributions were also factored in, she said, this figure would be as high as 25 per cent.
Her ministry is responsible for promoting the financial sector and investment in The Bahamas, Maynard-Gibson said, and in the process of doing so, a close dialogue with the private sector will be encouraged, in the hope of achieving consensus on the way forward.
“Similarly, on the investments side,” she concluded, “we have been meeting with persons involved directly in investment and have indicated that we intend to insure that whatever significant investment is made in a community, that community should have a very significant voice.”
