The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet Minister yesterday asserted that the Bahamian financial services industry was “not dead”, and said too many were guilty of talking down its prospects.

Hope Strachan, minister of financial services, told the House of Assembly that “foot in mouth disease” was undermining the sector’s prospects by questioning its prospects for survival.

Mrs Strachan argued that such notions “should be rejected outright”, in what appeared to be a rebuttal of recent statements by former prime minister, Hubert Ingraham, who suggested that the financial services industry was in a slow ‘death spiral’.

“On a national level we are challenged for financial resources to implement the regulations, laws, rules and procedures that require us to be the watchdogs for other countries’ citizens who may be tax evaders,” said Mrs Strachan during her contribution to the debate on the Securities Industry (Amendment) Bill 2015.

“One of the biggest challenges of the industry here in the Bahamas is a curious form of foot in mouth disease. Sufferers of this disease are prone to making fatalistic statements about the financial services industry without regard for the potential harm caused by such statements. It could be anyone, but the Opposition past and present is prone to suffer from this disease from time to time, and for obvious political reasons.”

Mrs Strachan continued: “Contrary to what some might believe, though challenged, the financial services industry in the Bahamas is not dead. There are literally thousands of Bahamian people employed in the sector, directly and indirectly.

“The suggestion that we should no longer place reliance on the survivability of the industry should be rejected outright. These statements, when reduced to writing, articulated on the airwaves and blasted on social media, are damaging to the sector.

“All things considered, we should be reluctant to read the last rites over an industry that has existed for at least 80 years; that provides 15 per cent of our GDP; and that helps to create what might be described as the middle class, referring to persons who have above average earning power and whose lifestyles have advanced in accordance with the salaries and benefits which the industry provides.”

Addressing the Securities Industry Amendment Bill 2015, Mrs Strachan said its purpose was to clarify and enhance the powers of the Securities Commission.

“The rationale behind these amendments are even more far-reaching,” she added. “It involves creating more transparency, accountability and integrity in the regulatory and enforcement process for policing the securities industry.

“The legislation is consistent with modern-day principals of industry governance, and the legislation enhances our competitiveness as a premier financial centre. Last but not least, it creates an environment that improves our infrastructural challenges with the ease of doing business in this country.”