According to Minister Maynard-Gibson, the Government has been “meticulous” in its approach to defining the new legislation to ensure that it will stand up to international scrutiny of the highest order.

“It’s very important to roll out, when we roll it out, in a way that is effective and so the time has been taken to ensure that whatever product we launch does not open the door for any re-listing or any questions about how we do business in The Bahamas,” stated the Minister.

“The Government, together with the private sector and the regulators, has been very careful and meticulous about our approach to this and I am (very) happy that we took the time necessary to do it properly,” she added.

The Minister also revealed that the results of the 'Bahamas Strategy & Branding Survey,' which has been carried out by the professional services firm PricewaterouseCoopers, could be made public as early as January.

The survey, launched on November 1, was sent to a wide range of organisations within and outside The Bahamas in order to collect and analyse information that will assist in policy development, identify opportunities for developing financial services and determine how the "Bahamas Brand” is presented to the international investment community.

The MFSI has indicated that it will utilise the Bahamas Financial Services Retreat 2006 to present the results of the survey to the private sector. Its conclusions are expected to form a part of the revised 'five year strategic plan' for the jurisdiction's financial services industry.