The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

MIAMI, FL - The Bahamian financial services industry remains “very bullish” on the Brazilian market, a Cabinet Minister telling this newspaper yesterday that the Smart Fund 7 model could be used as leverage to create other products.

In an interview with Tribune Business at the 2013 KPMG Infrastructure Investment Summit, Ryan Pinder, minister of financial services, said this country’s focus on Latin America appeared to be paying significant dividends even beyond the scope of the financial services sector.

“We hope to attract even more business out of Brazil,” he said. “When you see the trickle down effect of that into the real estate market and other markets, and not purely just a product offering in financial services, you know that you’re making your presence felt and it’s having an effect on the greater economy of the Bahamas.

“We’re still very bullish on Brazil; we’re actually working on a few additional products specifically for Brazil.”

Speaking on the response to the Smart Fund 7 offering, a product tailored to the needs of Brazilian high net worth clients, Mr Pinder said: “That’s still advancing well. Smart Fund 7 is still very attractive to Brazilians and we think we can use that to leverage and create ancillary products connected to Smart Fund 7 to make it even more attractive.”

Mr Pinder said the captive insurance segment was also a high growth area in financial services. “It’s an area where you can develop human capital,” he added.

“We have done so well with trust administration, with Bahamian human capital at the very highest level. We believe that insurance and captive insurance, in particular, is a niche where you can see Bahamians really rise in the ranks of the insurance managers that will be domiciled in the Bahamas. We think it provides good employment opportunities.”

Mr Pinder added: “We think that the family office and investment advisory services for ultra high net worth individuals is an area where we can see potential growth; where a family office manages all the assets of a particular high net worth family can be physically located in the Bahamas.

“Due to our political stability, tax preferred position and human capital development in the industry we see some growth in that area, and particularly coming out of Latin America.”