The Bahamas is preparing itself to be the most competitive country worldwide amongst it peers, Prime Minister Perry Christie said today.
Mr. Christie was addressing the opening of the first Special Programme for Intermediaries in Nassau (SPIN) on personal wealth management at the British Colonial Hilton Hotel.
“Our legislation, our regulations, our policy, our operational efficiency would have all been tested, tried, presented, made law and put into practice. That is our intention,” he said.
Mr. Christie told the financial professionals that his government is open to re-examining policies that would make The Bahamas more competitive in the global arena and he said they could be assured that once their proposals complied with that position there would be no efforts to hamper their progress.
Plans for the formation of SPIN were announced in the Bahamas Financial Services Board’s (BFSB) 2003 Business Plan.
The initiative was designed to complement the work of Bahamian financial practitioners who travel to various locations to provide intermediaries and other opinion leaders with information on the financial services industry in The Bahamas.
Key foreign professionals were invited to the SPIN for the purpose of building stronger relationships with Bahamian institutions and regulators.
BFSB Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Wendy Warren said that it is important to constantly review how key principles in the financial sector are implemented.
“There is the need to ensure that The Bahamas is relevant to the changing environments of our clients,” she said.
Ms. Warren also said that the industry must demonstrate to groups such as the OECD that the services offered in The Bahamas are “less prone to their ring fencing issues.”
The SPIN is being hosted by BFSB in conjunction with the Association of International Banks & Trust Companies (AIBT) and continues until Saturday.
By Julian Reid, The Bahama Journal
