Bahamas believes EU and OECD now has better under standing of country's financial system

After interactive discussions with the senior officials of the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Brussel last week, the Bahamas government believes says it believes Europe now has a better understanding of the country's financial system.

The talks were centred on the Bahamas’ compliance with international standards on tax governance.

The Finance Minister K Peter Turnquest who led the Bahamas delegation to the talks said that the meetings were very productive and we feel that the Europeans now have a greater understanding that the Bahamas has always been focused, at the highest political level, on protecting the integrity of the Bahamian financial system from abuse.

Accompanying the Deputy Prime Minister was the Minister of Financial Services, Trade & Industry and Immigration, T. Brent Symonette; the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Sen.  Carl W. Bethel QC; and a senior advisor from each of their respective ministries.

“Our approach has been to take a holistic view of the challenges that confront us and pragmatically do what promotes the long term viability of our financial services industry,” Turnquest said.

A government statement issued here said that in Brussels, the delegation had a series of bilateral meetings with the Code of Conduct Group, the Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Unions and other representatives of the European Commission, while in Paris, the delegation met with the Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, the Deputy Director of the OECD Center for Tax Policy and Administration, and the Head of the Secretariat of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.

“The meetings centered around the high-level commitments that the government has made with respect to the EU’s criteria on economic substance and transparency and the OECD’s anti-Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) minimum standards.

“Deputy Prime Minister Turnquest provided an update of the Bahamas’ efforts to fulfil its commitments and reinforced that while the Bahamas will meet the December 31st 2018 deadline, some consideration should be given to the challenges jurisdictions face implementing such extensive reform within such a short timeframe,” the statement noted.

It quoted Turnquest as further stressing that the constant threat of black or grey listing is a major constraint to economic development and has repercussions that are felt well beyond the financial services industry.

The statement said that the EU and OECD officials were presented with several pieces of legislation including the Removal of Preferential Exemptions Bill, the Register of Beneficial Ownership Bill and the Non-Profit Organizations Bill.

“These bills will be enacted by the end of this month, reinforcing the government’s intent to take all necessary steps to safeguard the financial sector and ensure the removal of the Bahamas from all watch lists in the shortest time-frame possible,” the statement added.