STATEMENT BY HON. HOPE STRACHAN, MINISTER: The Ministry of Financial Services is responsible for the promotion of the financial sector. This Ministry also seeks to establish the Bahamas as the jurisdiction of choice for financial services inclusive of banking, insurance, securities and investment funds.
The leak of documents from a law firm in Panama is disconcerting. This leak challenges the work and validity of international financial centres. We are following the development of this investigation closely.
The Bahamas is a compliant jurisdiction, operating under international regulatory standards. We continue to ensure, we do everything to remain compliant and to sustain our reputation as a premier financial centre. We consistently demonstrate our commitment to international tax transparency, as well as the anti-money laundering and the countering of financial terrorism initiatives.
It must be reiterated that the Bahamas has been deemed compliant by the organization of economic cooperation and development (OECD) global forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. Further, the Bahamas has committed to the implementation of the automatic exchange of information/OECD CRS using a bilateral approach that is fully endorsed by the OECD. We are also fully compliant with the U.S. foreign account tax compliance act.
We continue to ensure that we are a clean and reputable jurisdiction in which to conduct financial services. The financial services industry is a key component to our economy and we take very seriously anything that would compromise the integrity of our financial services sector.