The Senate yesterday passed the compendium of bills to provide for compliance by The Bahamas with international standards in financial services.

Mirroring the contributions coming out of the lower chamber, the opposition supported the bills passed in the house of assembly on Wednesday.

Leading the opposition’s contribution on the bills was Senator Dr. Michael Darville, who said the Bahamas will be standing with the major players in the international community and reaffirming its commitment to address money laundering, while fulfilling its obligations to protect the financial services sector.

“Financial crimes know no boundaries and given the realities, this administration must continue to ensure that every effort is made to show the world that we are committed to comply with global standards, in addition to properly identifying and addressing the risks involved in money laundering, terrorism financing and to establish and maintain a stronger and more robust regulatory regime and framework for our country,” Darville said.

FNM Senator Raynard Henfield was equally supportive of the bills and applauded his colleagues for their bi-partisan approach to protecting the country’s integrity.

“I believe that our differences should end when we have to protect the Bahamas’ integrity, protect the people of the Bahamas and the Bahamian economy,” Henfield said.

He added that the Bahamas must learn to negotiate better.

“I urge this government to always negotiate from a position of strength with the various international bodies, or every year we will find ourselves jumping through hoops to make amendments,” Henfield said.

The bills were passed ahead of a high level delegation flying off to France.

In France the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Peter Turnquest along with Financial Services Minister, Brent Symonette will attend an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) meeting to sign the multilateral convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters agreement.

This happens after five Caribbean countries were named on the European Union’s blacklist of tax havens. The Bahamas was not blacklisted.

The screening process for the hurricane ravaged islands like Bahamas have been put on hold action against other Caribbean countries until February 2018.

The Bahamas was last blacklisted in 2000