The Tribune

MINISTER of Financial Services Ryan Pinder said that the government is “tirelessly working” to re-energise the financial services brand of the Bahamas.

“We are diligently working to strengthen the ties between the financial services sector and other sectors, such as tourism, which we are world leaders, and the development of the Bahamas as a trade centre,” Minister Pinder said during the Global Financial Summit.

“We would also like to encourage more entrepreneurs to create and expand their bases of operation in the Bahamas, and particularly many of you here today.”

Mr Pinder added that the Ministry of Financial Services is also aggressively promoting the Bahamas as a “superior world-level provider centre for wealth, funds and risk management”.

This includes, he said, promoting the Bahamas as a uniquely qualified domain for an international arbitration court.

“The ministry is committed to seeing the Bahamas further develop and leverage its expertise as an international shipping registry for international shipping operators,” Mr Pinder said.

“We likewise look to leverage this expertise and develop a world-class yacht registry.

“This industry represents a wealth of untapped economic resources and opportunities for economic diversity and provision of a variety of professional services to this clientele.”

He said the government is committed to increasing the competitiveness of the Bahamas.

“We closely monitor the various indices on competitiveness and economic freedom and use these as guides for policy formulation,” Mr Pinder said “We believe that government should be supportive of legitimate, productive business activities. We are responding in real time to address any economic structural deficiencies that might exist.”

Mr Pinder said he feels the Bahamas’ sovereignty and independence is one of the key assets to business development, an asset that sets the country apart from many of its competitors.

“In a constantly-changing environment such as what we are in today, the ability for a country to make its own decisions, to advance the interests of the industry and its citizens is paramount,” Mr Pinder said. “The mitigation of political risk to those doing business in the Bahamas is key – our sovereignty does just that.

“We in the Bahamas,” he added, “recognise that tremendous advantage, the advantage of being able to be nimble in the creation of new products and the advancement of new policy.

“Our sovereignty will be a unique and important asset of the Bahamas and the Bahamas financial services sector, it will be an important component of advancing our competitiveness and will factor in the promotion and raising the profile of the Bahamas internationally.”

Mr Pinder said these are interesting times and the Bahamas seeks to be a part of “league of nations” that is shaping change.

“We believe that the world can benefit from our insight, our experience, our story,” he said.