AG: Financial services will be front and center

Promising to place financial services front and center in this administration, Attorney General Ryan Pinder said yesterday that work is ongoing to strengthen legislation for innovation in the sector and to create new industries, including a cannabis industry.

Noting that while it is important to be compliant with the international regulatory framework in financial services, this jurisdiction must also remain innovative and progressive in its offering.

“We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can regulate to be compliant with international best practices and innovate to give our industry a foothold for continued growth,” he said during his contribution to debate on the governor general’s Speech from the Throne.

“You cannot regulate yourself out of business… you have to provide opportunities and this administration will provide those opportunities.”

Pinder said he is committed to working with the minister of economic affairs to ensure that The Bahamas remains at the forefront of financial services innovation and opportunity.

“This will require legislating new product offerings, facilitating the ease of doing business and commercial transactions, working closely with other agencies of the government in order to ensure that we are viewed as a jurisdiction that people want to live and do business in,” he said.

“This parallel track of lifting up our financial services industry was missing in the last administration, it will be front and center in this administration.”

Along with a strengthened framework for innovation in financial services, the attorney general said the Davis administration is committed to legislative initiatives that promote new industries and an enhanced framework for the management and exploitation of government assets, including current government stock holdings and the management of natural resources for the benefit to Bahamians.

“Our government will enact appropriate legislation that will enable the lawful exploitation of the cannabis industry, creating an additional economic pillar for Bahamians. A comprehensive regulatory framework will be enacted for growing, harvesting, production and export of cannabis and its byproducts, with a goal of ensuring participation on a broad basis for Bahamians in the industry. We will also look to provide a regulatory framework for industrial hemp, which will open up additional new and innovative economic opportunities for Bahamians,” he said.

“This truly is a new day for Bahamians at large. We will enact sovereign wealth fund legislation, where the economic development and use of natural resources results in revenue that is in turn used for the long-term growth and benefit of generations of Bahamians. We will structure it in a way where the investments of the government in private enterprise can be held and professionally managed for the maximum benefit of Bahamians.” 

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