The last few years have seen a rise in the adoption of online services.
It is certainly helpful to our business to be able to do a majority of our banking online. It makes us more efficient and cost-effective, both for us and our clients.
With that in mind, we were looking forward to the Government’s foray into this area, particularly for those of us not in Nassau, this would be a tremendous help.
Once again, it would enable us to do our business faster and better. But upon calling for information, the only thing we were asked for was a copy of our Financial Providers Licence. Quite apart from the fact that they seemed to have no interest in our Business Licence, or anything from our governing body, The Bahamas Bar Council, we do not possess a Financial Providers Licence for one simple reason: They’re too expensive.
Now, the licence cost is more than reasonable at $500 a year. However, it carries the necessary requirement of yearly audits, which can run into thousands of dollars, per registered IBC.
Since we are a smaller firm that caters more locally than internationally, we have never bothered acquiring this licence for the simple reason that it would cost us and our clients more money than it is worth. As it is, we can still conduct all our legal business, conveyances, and handling the registration of Bahamian companies.
But now the Government is telling us that, in order to use the online facet of services we have been happily using in person for years on end, our company must now acquire a mostly useless licence and endure additional and unnecessary costs.
Furthermore, reports from colleagues “using” the service tell us that not only is there an additional fee for the service, but that it is poorly implemented and difficult to use.
So, in short – The Bahamas Government, in an effort to reduce costs and promote efficiency, would like us to spend lots of money to enjoy a substandard service.
No matter. The staff at the Freeport branch of the Registrar General’s Office are a courteous and efficient bunch, so at the end of the day, we consider ourselves winners.
Daniel Dennison
