By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian financial services industry can “expect more of the same” from global regulatory initiatives in 2020, a senior executive said yesterday, with financial technology (Fintech) driving its evolution.

Tanya McCartney, the Bahamas Financial Services Board’s (BFSB) chief executive, told Tribune Business: “As we begin 2020 we can expect a continued focus on global regulation, and the need for The Bahamas to demonstrate not merely compliance with international regulation by the passage of legislation but actual technical effectiveness in terms of implementation of various international initiatives.

“These initiatives are driven largely by external bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Organisation of Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU).”

The Bahamas in most recent history has been hounded for the past two decades by bodies such as the OECD and the FATF, which have demanded that it and other international financial centres comply with their demands for compliance with global anti-money laundering and tax information exchange initiatives.

The FATF in a report last year said: “The Bahamas made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and address any related technical deficiencies.”

France last year placed The Bahamas on its own “blacklist” - a move that was branded “disgusting” by deputy prime minister, K Peter Turnquest, as “disgusting”. He said he intended to tell the OECD’s Global Forum that “there is no point in The Bahamas engaging in these multilateral organisations if individual members are going to take unilateral action, particularly without dialogue, at the highest level”.

Ms McCartney added: “The pace of change will continue to force us to work on improved agility as individual members of the EU appear to be taking unilateral action against countries such as ours. All indications are that the focus of these international bodies will be on taxation of the digital economy, and this is likely to follow on with discussions on a global minimum corporate tax.

“Technology will continue to change the way that we deliver financial services. We are looking forward to the passage of the digital assets and registered exchanges legislation,” she said, hailing the launch of the Central Bank’s digital Bahamian dollar for its ability to “enhance” financial inclusion among Bahamians.

Ms McCartney said that despite global regulatory pressures pressure she sees an “opportunity to leverage our strengths of location, ability to innovate and our expertise in financial services”. She added: “In the current period of global economic and geopolitical instability and uncertainty, our location is an asset.

“We have seen growth in family offices, and the economic substance requirements also create an opportunity for greater presence of companies who will need to show actual activity, decision making and adequacy of staff in the jurisdiction.

“We can expect a continued call from industry for a more strategic approach to the development of the sector, and we will persist in our dialogue with policymakers and other all key stakeholders to develop a concrete plan of action for the sector.”