The Tribune

The Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) sponsored a major anti-money laundering and financial crimes conference that last week attracted professionals from across the Caribbean.

Members of the Compliance Commission joined BFSB executives at the fifth annual ComplianceAid Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Conference, which was held in Miami. Besides the strong Bahamian contingent, the conference attracted compliance and legal professionals from other Caribbean jurisdictions such as Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and Belize.

Speakers at the two-day conference, held from April 4-5, included:

1. Rhonda Lee Braithwaite-Knowles QC, attorney general, Turks and Caicos Islands, who spoke on understanding the push for an open Beneficial Ownership Register

2. Cheryl Bazard, attorney at Bazard & Co, The Bahamas, and Stanley Foodman, chief executive of Foodman CPAS & Advisors, Florida, who presented on De-risking, re-risking and correspondent banking relationships: Where are we in 2019?

3. Cleviston Haynes, Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, who spoke on Cybercrime, cryptocurrencies and managing anti-money laundering/counter terror financing risk in a blockchain environment

4. E Jay Saunders, chief executive of Domus Semo Sancus (DSS), Turks & Caicos/New York, who presented on How AI (artificial intelligence) is improving Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering compliance

Tanya McCartney, BFSB’s chief executive and executive director, used her address to outline what The Bahamas has done in response to the various international initiatives aimed at tackling financial crimes and how the private sector was actively in engaged in the process.

She said: “The financial services sector in The Bahamas has been resilient, and has grown along with the world’s evolving financial services industry. The jurisdiction remains demonstrably unwelcoming to those who engage in illegal activities with strong legal and regulatory controls in place to combat financial crime.”

The conference was used to provide an update on the progress made by The Bahamas in addressing issues highlighted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s (CFATF) 2017 Mutual Evaluation Report.

Ms McCartney said: “In December 2018, in its first enhanced follow-up report (FUR), CFATF acknowledged that The Bahamas had made progress in addressing the technical compliance deficiencies which were identified, resulting in favourable re-ratings being given on 14 of the 40 recommendations, and it was agreed to maintain the largely compliant rating for Recommendation 5, a compliant rating for Recommendation 21, and partially compliant for 8 of the other 40 recommendations.”