RYAN Pinder said the history of financial services in the Bahamas is a true story of “entrepreneurial activity at work”.

“The Bahamas offers an economic space for financial entrepreneurs, both local and international, to create value for their customers,” said Mr Pinder, Minister of Financial Services, during the Global Financial Summit, held at the Atlantis Resort.

In line with the model entrepreneurship as explained by economist and author Israel Kirzner, the financial services market in the Bahamas grew exponentially as controllers of mobile capital “discovered” new opportunities and sought more competitive environments to conduct their business after the imposition of certain capital controls in their home countries, Mr Pinder said.

He added that those entrepreneurs created, innovated and introduced new financial products to meet the needs of the market.

“The Bahamas’ financial services industry is indeed the essence of entrepreneurship and this is a spirit which I encourage to flourish throughout the entire economy of the Bahamas,” Mr Pinder said.

“Notwithstanding our success in financial services over the years; this current government is not complacent. We have much work to be done to take our country from strength to strength – onward, forward, upward – together.”

Mr Pinder said the re-engineering of the financial services industry in partnership with the country’s private sector is a core area of the government’s work agenda.

“The government’s aim is to facilitate the development of an environment which is conducive for the financial sector entrepreneur to create value and to innovate,” he said.

“Our government has shown that it is committed to the ideal of a competitive business and financial services sector,” he said. “One of the first actions of the Prime Minister was to re-establish the Ministry of Financial Services, which I have the privilege to act as the substantive minister.”

The current government, Mr Pinder said, is committed to investing heavily in the Bahamas’ financial services centre in terms of providing the necessary legislative and infrastructural improvements to maintain the competitive edge of the centre.

“We are also committed to investing heavily in our people, to ensure that sufficient talent exists with the appropriate breadth and depth to sustain and develop our sector.

“The unique approach of the Bahamas, with a close relationship between the government and the private industry, and a focus on the development of domestic human capital is the road to industry development.”