This is particularly damaging as the financial services industry seeks to reposition itself and leaves the Bahamas open to the possibility of increased scrutiny from the same agencies responsible for this nation’s 2000 blacklisting.
“With the regulator in the Cayman Islands you get an acknowledgement and a response in less than two weeks,” one source told The Tribune. “With the Cayman Monetary Authority, you are going to get a very quick response, but with, but with the Bahamas you are often unlikely to have to have a response eben within two months.”
“The British Virgin Islands are even more efficient than the Cayman people. The Bahamas just doesn’t come across as being serious in comparison on a regular basis, so people go to jurisdictions that demonstrate they care.”
“We are at a catastrophic disadvantage. It is hampering the Bahamas’ ability to relaunch after the new legislation came in, after the OECD and FATF things were done.”
Financial institutions ahve to seek approvals from the appropriate Bahamian regulators before they are able to conduct certain types of business. For instance, the Central Bank has responsibility for vetting and approving bank and trust company licence applications, in addition to granting exchange control approval. The Security Commission, on the other hand, regulates the capital markets, approving initial public offerings (IPO)’s and licensing all investment funds operating within this nation.
Other regulators include the Registrar General, The Registrar of Insurance and the Compliance Commission, and financial institutions are especially concerned about duplication and inefficiency that occurs whenever an application has to be approved by more than one supervisory agency.
Source: Neil Hartnell, The Tribune
