The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Online incorporations at the Companies Registry will give the Bahamas “much more of an upbeat message” to use when it begins “concentrated” efforts to penetrate the Asian financial services market in 2014, Tribune Business was told yesterday.

Emphasising that this nation had “not abandoned” Asia, the world’s fastest growing region in terms of high net worth wealth, Aliya Allen, the Bahamas Financial Services Board’s (BFSB) chief executive, said the rapid turnaround of company incorporations was vital to making inroads here.

Expressing confidence that the Companies Registry would be up to the challenge by 2014, Ms Allen pledged that the BFSB’s direct marketing to potential Asian clients, and their intermediaries and financial institutions, would “pick up next year”.

She added that the BFSB had, for 2013, chosen to “aggressively hit” key ‘influence centres’ and hubs with the Bahamas’ branding message, in particular the likes of London and Miami.

The World Wealth Report 2013 (WWR), released yesterday by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management, identified the Asia-Pacific region as having the highest cumulative wealth growth rate among high net worth individuals, at 12.2 per cent.

This eclipsed North America’s 11.7 per cent growth rate and, while this region beat Asia-Pacific in terms of raw numbers of high net worth individuals - 3.73 million to 3.68 million - the report said the latter was expected to regain its market leading position in this category, too.

All of which indicates that the Bahamas, having established its niche as a private wealth management specialist, should add Asia to Latin America in terms of the target markets it focuses on.

“I think you’ll see, in BFSB’s 2014 marketing agenda, much more of a concentration on those markets,” Ms Allen said of the Asia-Pacific region.

“What we tried to do this year was to try and really consolidate our approach somewhat, focusing on key target markets and hitting them aggressively with the branding message.

“We haven’t abandoned Asia by any means, and what we’re trying to do is ensure we get the brand message out to centres of influence and hubs.”

Ms Allen described Miami, for example, as a “key hub for Latin American structuring”, complementing its numerous trips to Brazil and forays into other South American markets.

Canada, she added, had its own ties to Asia, while London - another major BFSB marketing target - was a traditional hub for regions throughout the world.

“Direct marketing to Asia will pick up next year,” Ms Allen pledged to Tribune Business, adding that ongoing ‘infrastructure’ reforms at the Registrar General’s Department would help underpin the financial services industry’s message.

“Certainly, once we have a Registry - which we think we will have next year - that can serve one part of the market, the ability to incorporate a company quickly, which is the base for all structuring...... once we see that happening, we will have much more of an upbeat message to give in that [Asian] market,” the BFSB chief executive said.

Ms Allen is well-informed on progress in that regard, as she sits on the private sector committee that provides advice and feedback to the Government on plans to upgrade the Companies Registry.

In another report on this page today, Allyson Maynard-Gibson, the attorney general, said the Government’s goal was to place key services at the Registrar General’s Department “entirely online”.

When it came to the Companies Registry, she added: “We have already designed a system where companies incorporated under both the Companies Act and International Business Companies (IBCs) Act can be done online, all the way through from name reservation and registration to printing out the certification of incorporation,” the Attorney General added.

And, “on a go forward basis”, Bahamas-based companies and service providers will also be able to obtain Certificates of Good Standing online.

Meanwhile, Ms Allen told Tribune Business that the Bahamas had seen “impressive growth” in its captive insurance business - albeit from a standing start - in a relatively short period of time.

Acknowledging that the Bahamas now had to ‘get the message out’ to the global industry, she said: “The bottom line message is that we now have a captive industry in the Bahamas.”

Referring to a joint recent briefing hosted by the BFSB and Insurance Commission of the Bahamas (ICB), where Peter Strauss, a specialist in small and medium-sized captives spoke, Ms Allen added: “It was clear from what Peter said that a lot of people do not know we’re growing, but the growth in a short period of time is really impressive.

“We now have to plan and work at how to take advantage of all the opportunities that present themselves.”