Prime Minister, Perry Christie warned last week that although the immediate crisis appears to be over, the jurisdiction is likely to come under continued pressure from the OECD and the FATF, and also from the United States as a result of the Patriot Act, Qualified Intermediary requirements, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Speaking at the annual seminar of the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Prime Minister urged those present to familiarise themselves with the provisions of the new US legislation in order to better advise their clients.
The Nassau Guardian reported last week that Prime Minister Christie praised the Bahamian financial services sector for its response to the initial OECD campaign in 2000 and 2001, arguing :
‘The threat was significant and real and the actions of the OECD were designed to destabilise all small international financial sectors who failed to comply with anti-money laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC) best practices. We responded quickly and decisively, despite that lack of a level playing field, and we were able to have ourselves removed from these international blacklists.’
However, he went on to warn that: ‘The actions of the OECD will continue and we can only expect more regulations and pressure to comply with their initiatives.’
A comprehensive report on the various international initiatives, including the OECD and FATF campaigns, is available from the Tax-News Reports Shop at http://www.tax-news.com/reportshop/
By Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com
