By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FOX Hill MP Fred Mitchell has questioned whether the new Banks and Trust Companies Regulations (Amendment) Bill will open the door for web shop owners to petition the Central Bank for permission to launch their own lending institutions.

Mr Mitchell also praised a new initiative OWN Bahamas, launched by web shop Island Luck, that will offer grant funding to people lacking the capital to start a business independently.

He was making a contribution to the Bill in the House of Assembly yesterday.

The legislation is expected to “tighten” the Central Bank of the Bahamas’ oversight and bring The Bahamas into full compliance with international banking’s best supervisory practices, State Finance Minister Michael Halkitis has said.

Mr Mitchell said: “Within the last week, some of the web shop owners announced that they will be providing grants for entrepreneurs. I thought that this was a laudatory effort on their part.

“In fact, we know in the run up to the passage of the gambling legislation what the difficulties were for those in that sector to be able to bank the large sums of capital that had been accumulated by their own entrepreneurship.

“The question is now that they have these large sums of capital accumulated, would this group of people with these large sums of money be able to apply to our Central Bank under these provisions and meet the fit and proper test be able to form a bank? (They) would be able to do what they are now doing as volunteers through a Bahamian bank. We have been trying at this for a long time.”

The amendment also seeks to enhance the powers of the Central Bank to ensure that the issuance of shares to a new or existing investor, or an increase in their equity holdings as fit and proper, and that the institution continues to be managed prudently.

Last Thursday, OWN Bahamas was launched. Island Luck CEO Sebas Bastian said the programme was created to promote economic development, and was designed to support the acceleration of the Bahamian economy.

At the time he said: “OWN wants to be that bridge between people’s goals and dreams and providing the opportunity to achieve just that. We want to basically really own this country, and the only way we can do that is if we empower young Bahamians, encourage them to think outside the box, expand their investment appetite beyond the conventional types of businesses that we see in The Bahamas like our beauty salons, car wash and 99 cent breakfast stands.”

The initiative will offer grant funds to ten successful applicants. Two of them will subsequently be afforded an all expenses paid trip to visit the Canton Trade Fair in Guangzho, China, in April, as well as $25,000 to start a business of their choice.

The other eight will be given a grant of $5,000 to do the same.