By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government has pledged to create an Innovation Council to develop new financial services products, as it aims to develop the Bahamas into a “vibrant, robust” international business centre that rivals tourism’s economic contribution by 2023.

Unveiling his Ministry’s 10-year plan for the Bahamian financial services industry, Ryan Pinder, minister of financial services, said it would focus on areas such as innovation and developing a “business friendly Immigration policy” to create a competitive advantage.

Addressing the International Business and Finance Summit (IBFS), Mr Pinder said his Ministry was working with the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) to help the latter become ‘recognised’ in Panama - part of a broader strategy to generate increased business for the stock exchange.

Noting that both the Dominican Republic and Haiti had urged the Bahamas to export its financial services industry, and human capital, to their nations, Mr Pinder said this nation also needed to adopt a “leadership role” in the Caribbean when it came to international initiatives targeting the sector.

Many of the principles outlined by Mr Pinder at the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB)-organised IBFS, which was held at Bimini Bay, are not new.

They have been repeated by successive governments and ministers, both PLP and FNM, but Mr Pinder’s words will likely still be interpreted by the financial services industry as encouraging. The key will now be whether he can execute, and deliver.

Detailing plans to ‘rebrand the Bahamas’ as a “full business centre to the world”, Mr Pinder said the Ministry of Financial Services would focus on two initiatives designed to bolster innovation within the industry.

Describing the first as being 
“based on the Dutch ‘Innovation Room’ model”, Mr Pinder said it was designed to bring regulators and other officials together to review new products and processes quickly.

“This initiative will bring greater transparency to the process of introducing new or complex products to the Bahamas,” he added.

“The second initiative is the launch of a Financial Sector Innovation Council, which will work with industry to identify new markets and new products for the Bahamas to pursue.

“Additionally, the Council will assist in ensuring that modern financial sector legislation is in place to create new market niches for Bahamian firms.”

The Council will have a “research and development” role within the financial services industry, Mr Pinder said.

Focusing on what has been a sensitive, and weak spot, for the Bahamas and its financial services industry, Mr Pinder acknowledged that an international business centre required a “progressive” Immigration policy that promoted transparency and efficiency.

“Our goal is to work with the Department of Immigration to ensure a progressive immigration policy that protects and facilitates opportunities and mobility for Bahamians, while efficiently meeting the needs of business for occasional foreign talent,” the Minister told the IBFS conference.

“I would like to be clear: My Ministry understands that every international business centre operates with foreign talent, and that every centre has a rigorous Immigration process. However, our centre demands a responsive Immigration management system that considers domestic development goals.”

Mr Pinder promised that his Ministry would be meeting shortly with the Department of Immigration, industry regulators and the private sector to develop a “smoother Immigration policy” for the financial services industry.

Calling for this to be balanced with ‘succession planning’ and ‘knowledge transfer’ within Bahamas-based financial services providers, Mr Pinder said: “Paramount in this proposal will be mechanisms to identify and confirm legitimate business needs for foreign talent.

“For example, is the need because of specific company knowledge, language requirements, promoting head office training programmes, etc. In this process we must keep in mind the approval process by the regulators, where applicable.

“Finally, we must ensure that the Immigration process reduces uncertainty through a more efficient process. We must ensure that there are clearer, more transparent requirements; faster processing time, an applications tracking process and flexibility to fairly deal with urgent cases.”

Moving to leverage the Bahamas’ ‘Category A’ status with IOSCO, the global securities industry’s regulatory body, Mr Pinder said he would see to generate business for BISX in discussions with foreign governments.

Tribune Business revealed last year how BISX planned to seek ‘recognition’ from Panama once this nation achieved ‘Category A’ status, as this is a benchmark by which other jurisdictions provide access to a nation’s securities industry participants and products.

Detailing plans to “integrate” BISX with exchanges in other countries, Mr Pinder said he had discussed the issue Panama’s securities regulator and stock exchange.

“We have developed a plan, that will be assisted with obtaining IOSCO A,to have BISX recognised in Panama, allowing the exchanges to work together and us to be able to provide for products of the Bahamas to be better marketed to Latin America markets, creating an avenue of trading and liquidity,” Mr Pinder said.

On the arbitration front,he said the Bahamas aimed to target “niche markets”, such as maritime, financial services and trade disputes, acting as 
“the gateway to Latin America” for alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

The Government’s, and Mr Pinder’s, financial services agendas are closely linked to trade policies, as the Bahamas signs on to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and seeks full membership in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Calling for the Bahamas to “leverage our knowledge base” and export financial services, the Minister said such demand existed within the region.

“The Minister of Commerce for the Dominican Republic has recently discussed their need to supplement their financial services sector with our talent, inviting us to export our financial services to their country,”Mr Pinder said.

“I held a similar discussion with the Minister for Commerce with Haiti. He was very specific, encouraging the integration and export of our financial services sector in providing the necessary services support to their small and medium business development.

“These are great opportunities for us to link our mature financial services industry with a trade in services agenda to regional countries.”