Financial services professionals who are eager to see enacted the proposed amendment to two key pieces of legislation that govern the sector shared the benefit of their expertise with legislators this week, identifying the critical areas likely to benefit from the intended strengthened policies.
The government has promised to soon bring the bills to Parliament for debate and ultimately passage.
In the absence of the recommended legislative changes, Central Bank officials have raised several concerns, according to the Bank’s Legal Counsel and Secretary Rochelle Deleveaux.
“There are two particular areas that we are concerned about and one of those is access to information; ensuring that the Central Bank can access information from Private Trust Companies [PTCs] and registered representatives,” she explained at a special luncheon held at the British Colonial Hilton Hotel in downtown Nassau on Wednesday.
“We are also concerned about due diligence requirements to make sure that the persons that are involved in the PTCs are proper persons for this jurisdiction and they don’t propose any reputation risk for The Bahamas.”
Others in the industry have endorsed the same sentiments.
The proposed amendment to the Banks and Trust Companies Regulation Act is designed to empower the Central Bank to exempt by regulation, PTC’s, or any person, from the licensing or regulation requirements outlined under the act. They would be subject to an approvals process under the Central Bank.
It would also empower the Central Bank to gazette notices of withdrawal; define a PTC and introduce and define the concept of registered representative and designated person.
In addressing the gathering of members of the House of Assembly and the Senate, Chairman of the Financial Services Consultative Forum Brian Moree stressed the added benefits expected in the range of private wealth management services being offered in The Bahamas.
“We are trying now to upgrade our private wealth management,” he acknowledged.
“We are trying to make sure that we are properly servicing high net worth individuals and high net worth families and we think that Private Trust Companies is a very important product that is an integral part in servicing that niche market,” Mr. Moree added.
Meanwhile Rowena Bethel, legal advisor to the Ministry of Finance, stated that the legislative change would sharpen this country’s competitiveness.
“These legislative amendments would also ensure that regulators have access to information from private trust companies, including due diligence information which is a part of the Know Your Customer regime,” Mrs. Bethel said.
Before her new posting as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Allyson Maynard Gibson, as the Minister of Financial Services and Investments had hailed plans to strengthen the regulatory regime and improve the jurisdiction’s allure through the two proposed amendments.
The acts designated for amendments were two of nine pieces of legislation passed in 2000, when the government embarked on an extensive overhaul of financial sector regulations following international pressure to strengthen the country’s anti money laundering regime.
According to the Central Bank of The Bahamas together these new laws provide for more comprehensive and enhanced supervision of financial institutions, corporate service providers and international business companies; while establishing a more coordinated system of deterrence against money laundering and other criminal abuses within the financial sector; in the context of a framework that allows for greater international cooperation in the oversight of the financial system.
Key features of the new enactments included: enhanced powers of the Governor of the Central Bank to issue and revoke licences to carry on banking and/or trust business from within the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and operational independence of the Central Bank in supervision and regulation of banks and trust companies. There was also increased provision for information sharing with other regulators for supervisory purposes.
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
