The Bahamas has secured high marks in a financial services strategy and branding survey, particularly when it comes to possessing core areas of strengths, which when combined allow it to continue building on
The Banker magazine, an affiliate of the Financial Times Group, found this to be true considering the countryﾒs more notable strengths of language, location and time zone, political stability, sovereignty and banking confidentiality.
According to the results of the Branding Survey, The Bahamas has also established a very strong position of excellence in wealth management, specifically, trust and fiduciary services, private banking and corporate services.
In fact, according to Financial Services and Investments Minister Vincent Peet, of the 13 International Financial Centres (IFC) compared in the survey, The Bahamas placed within the top six in all of the product and service categories and was in the top three in private banking, trust and fiduciary, corporate services, family offices and residency.
More than 220 participants participated in the survey, which was conducted in November 2005 as a means of securing objective, factual data on which way to proceed in the financial services industry, the third largest employer in the country, behind tourism and public service.
Among the participants, was a wide variety of organizations, ranging from “giants” with assets under management in excess of $100 billion, to niche players with assets under management under $100 million.
“An overwhelming number of respondents indicated that they believe that The Bahamas will continue to play an important role in the future of global financial services and they would continue to recommend The Bahamas to their clients,” Minister Peet said at a press conference on Monday.
“This is coupled with the intention of the majority of participating institutions to focus on growing their Bahamian businesses over the next three years. The other financial organizations expect to maintain the present level of business.”
Threats and weaknesses were also identified, all of which were reportedly common to IFCS.
According to the surveyﾒs executive summary, while the surveyﾒs results have confirmed the countryﾒs position as a leader in three core areas ﾖ private banking, trusts and corporate services ﾖ the market is not aware of The Bahamasﾒ strength in other areas.
“This continues with respect to the perception of its reputation, expertise, service and business friendliness,” the 14-page summary read.
“There is every indication that increased awareness and understanding of The Bahamasﾒ capabilities could lead to new and increased business opportunities. The government and the private sector much do more to increase that awareness within the wider international community.
Better branding is also an area The Bahamas must work on, according to Minister Peet.
“As strong as the brand is, it is not really strong enough because we do not market ourselves in as strong a fashion as we should,” Minister Peet said.
“When compared to tourismﾒs strong branding ﾖ ﾑItﾒs Better In The Bahamasﾒ ﾖ, which identifies the country automatically, this is the type of branding we would want to get to for financial services. And so this is part of the challenge for the committee ﾖ to ensure that our strengths could be even better known.”
The Bahamas has also faced criticism regarding its regulatory regime in terms of it being structured in a way that could be more easily understood.
But the minister has assured that the government has moved aggressively in this regard. For the most part, all of the countryﾒs regulatory agencies are under the Ministry of Finance.
The issue is being addressed even further through the Financial Industries Reform Commission, whose job it is to consolidate all of the regulations and regulators. This would make it easier for persons to be easily advised, eliminating the possibility of any delay, according to government officials.
But according to Minister of State for Finance Senator James Smith, the question of regulation can be considered both strength and a weakness for this jurisdiction
“Itﾒs an offshore centre and consequently the practitioners are really more interested in doing their core business and sometimes over-regulation can prevent this or become quite costly in terms of having to comply with onerous regulations,” Minister Smith said.
“So we find ourselves having to find a constructive balance between meeting international standards of regulations but at the same time recognizing that the practitioners – the licensees in this jurisdiction – ought to get on with the work they are doing.”
According to Minister Smith, over the past several years, The Bahamas has been approaching a happy medium.
“But it is a changing goalpost because some of the regulatory demands are not internal, but externally imposed by other organizations, particularly the [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development],” he added.
“And so for us and for other centres, this will continue to be a formidable challenge into the future ﾖ How do we go about maintaining good regulatory standards and at the same time not prevent practitioners from getting on with their work.”
The survey is now in the hands of a working group, whose main focus will be to formulate a comprehensive response to the results of the survey.
Officials are hoping to have an interim report in “the very near future.”
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
