Academic Calls For More Domestic Ownership Of Bahamian Economy

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

18 August 2004

Speaking earlier this week, Dr Gilbert Morris, executive director of the Bahamian Landfall Centre for Finance, Trade and International Affairs, expressed concern that the level of foreign ownership in the country’s banking sector is holding back Bahamian participation in the economy, the Bahama Journal reports.

Addressing a seminar of finance industry professionals, Dr Morris held that despite years of experience, Bahamian bankers have been unable to create products which would enable more wealth to remain within the jurisdiction and more local jobs created.

“And the reason for this is mainly because the banks are all foreign owned,” he argued.

Dr Morris urged the government and the banking sector to develop more imaginative financial products, such as real estate investment trusts (REITs) to help alleviate the jurisdiction’s housing problem and make buying property more affordable for locals.

“Today in Dubai, a sandy place in the desert, they are building 5,208 buildings and all of them are being funded by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) created by Dubai bankers,’ he observed.

Dr Morris expressed the view that if Bahamian bankers had greater control and ownership of the banking sector, similar instruments could be created in tandem with the capital markets, thus spreading risk and making home ownership more affordable for Bahamians.

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