The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet Minister yesterday admitted to “trepidation” over whether the Bahamas’ service levels could match the promises and content of a recent financial services promotional tour.

Hope Strachan, minister of financial services, said the Bahamas had received a strong response to its recent financial services marketing campaign in Brazil and Asia, but expressed concern over whether this nation could deliver on service excellence pledges.

Mrs Strachan, while addressing a Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) seminar, said that ‘Landfall’ events in Brazil, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, organised by the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB), had provided opportunities for this nation to promote itself to industry professionals and wealth intermediaries.

“The reception was remarkable and the interest expressed was phenomenal,” she said. “However, I could not help but feel a sense of trepidation - after selling this jurisdiction, hopefully capturing new business for the industry - over whether or not we can satisfactorily deliver the excellence of services which we offer.

“Inevitably one of the most critical issues for potential clients is how quickly, efficiently and at what cost we can deliver our products and services, as well as the business friendly nature of all the other components associated with setting up and doing business in the Bahamas.”

Mrs Strachan said recent World Bank statistics on the Ease of Doing Business in the Bahamas highlighted a considerable decline in this nation’s rankings, as it dropped out of the top 100.

“This is cause for concern. It is important that we focus our efforts on progressive initiatives to impact the financial services industry and the future outlook of our country as a whole,” she added.

“This leaves me more and more convinced of the critical value of the Centre for Excellence for financial services, which we are working on establishing here in the Bahamas.

“This Centre for Excellence will not only provide us with a model institution, which will educate and certify professionals to international standards, but it can be used to assist with training for government and private sector professionals in the delivery of services and in instilling and inculcating a spirit of excellence into our industry.”

Mrs Strachan continued: “We are a prime jurisdiction for cross-border investment financing, as much as we are service providers to high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals in wealth management services. These are the norms that we all adhere to, know and build upon year after year.

“It is obvious that with the high rate of job losses in the sector, and with more expected, we do not have the luxury of resting on our laurels. We must face the fact that the sector is contracting globally. Companies on a global scale are downsizing, right sizing, de-risking, shaking off and shaking down employees to protect their bottom line. The Bahamas is no different.

“Wishful thinking is not going to change our situation. What will change it is a renewed vision for the industry. An acceptance that if we intend to stay in this game, we have to change the way we do business. We have to change our view of the world and how business operates on a global scale. We will not be able to compete with the countries in this region that have relationships based on territorial affiliations, cross-border relationships and/or a liberalised sector.”

Mrs Strachan added that her Ministry is pushing to have the Bahamas become an established international arbitration centre.

“Much work has been done in recent weeks in this direction. We see the centre as an opportunity to create a new industry in the Bahamas, provide new jobs and new opportunities, to raise the profile of the Bahamas as a premier financial services jurisdiction offering a range of services from front office to back office,” she said, “from contract to controversy, from setting up to settlement, from performance to payment.

“A centre which offers mediation and arbitration services buttressed by a competent, experienced commercial court sector is what is envisaged. The attendant advantages and ancillary benefits to be derived from the establishment of this new industry cannot be underscored enough.

“We are not the only country in this region looking in this direction and we must be extremely time sensitive with how we proceed lest we lose our ability to garner a competitive advantage by being the first ones out of the gate.”