The EU’s dreaded blacklist has been released and as hoped or anticipated by senior government officials, The Bahamas has not been named.

Confirming  this to reporters yesterday morning  Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest  said this validates the hard work put in to improve the country’s financial sector, but by the same token, there’s still a lot to be done.

“Now we move into the implementation phase of all of the legislation that we’ve put in place which is going to require a significant effort form a number of parties as well as from industry.

“However, as we have demonstrated the whole of 2018, we are up to the challenge and we are committed to doing what we have to do to ensure that the financial services industry is in fact protected,” Minister Turnquest said. 

As for concerns that the EU will continue to add even more financial restrictions, the Minister accepts that this is a very dynamic environment that’s always changing.

“As the evolution of transactions and financial services products come about,  there are different standards that come up  to operate those kinds of developments.  I think it would be reasonable to expect that there will be further requirements as we go along.

“Again the important thing is that the Bahamas is at the table and we are participating in the discussions and are keeping abreast of the developments and not allowing ourselves to fall behind like we did in the past,”  said Mr. Turnquest.

The government plans to bring additional legislation to comply with EU standards.

The Bahamas Financial Services Board is equally pleased The Bahamas has not been included on the list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.

Through a public private sector working group, the industry has provided input to policy makers with respect to the business implications of the various measures.

This has led to several pieces of legislation being passed – namely the compendium passed in December.

The BFSB as well as the Association of International Banks and Trust  Companies  pledged their support of the government,  taking the necessary steps to avoid adverse impact to The Bahamas as an international financial centre and to pursue initiatives that position the jurisdiction for sustainable growth and development.