AG: EU blacklist removal opens door for business in Europe

Attorney General Dale Marshall has welcomed the long-awaited removal of Barbados from the European Union (EU) list of high-risk third countries, saying it clears a major hurdle for Barbadian individuals and companies doing business in Europe.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Marshall confirmed that the required delegated legislation was published in the EU’s Official Journal, giving effect to the decision. 

Barbados will be officially removed from the blacklist on August 5.

“This has been a long time in coming. The fact is that we ought to have been removed from this list a year ago, having been removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list since early last year. At that time, we were automatically removed from the UK blacklist,” he said.

“The practical effect of now being removed from this blacklist is that EU financial institutions no longer need to conduct enhanced due diligence on parties and transactions from Barbados. The need to do enhanced due diligence caused many EU banks to refuse to do business with Barbadian companies, and this has hampered not only personal transactions but also had a negative impact on our ability to do business with EU entities. Some companies have had to cease operations in Barbados because we have been on the blacklist.”

The attorney general noted that removal from the EU list had been delayed because some EU members objected to the removal of other jurisdictions from the list, and under their “all or nothing” procedures, no other country could be removed.

He stressed that Barbados has worked long and hard to meet the global standards set by the FATF, which he described as “a source of pride”.

“This administration has made an extraordinary investment in our institutions, established and staffed new entities, invested in training, updated our laws and adopted new norms, all to make sure that Barbados is able to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism,” Marshall said.

“We can now enjoy some stability and predictability in our commercial activity with businesses and individuals within the EU member states, and that benefits all Barbadians.”

BIBA, the Association for Global Business, also said on Wednesday that it is “extremely pleased” by the development.

“Following Barbados’ removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list last February, this action by the European Commission (EC) is further evidence that the island does not have strategic deficiencies in its systems set up to fight money laundering and terrorist financing,” BIBA’s Executive Director, Carmel Haynes, told Barbados TODAY.

She commended the agencies responsible for the island’s financial regulatory framework and the private actors in the global business sector for working diligently to ensure that Barbados is hitting all its compliance markers.

BIBA Executive Director Carmel Haynes (FP)

“While we acknowledge that increased compliance can sometimes be an additional burden and cost to clients and service providers alike, Barbados unfortunately has to continue to fight against the stigma of being labelled by many overseas as a high-risk, lightly regulated financial centre because of our geographic location,” Haynes said.

However, she suggested that there must be a balance.

“We are hopeful that with both the FATF and the EC having endorsed the actions that the island is taking to protect the global financial system, we will see some further easing in the enhanced due diligence by international financial institutions, which continue to cause inordinate delays in the execution of some critical transactions,” she pointed out. “Reductions in the [difficulty] and cost of doing business within the financial services industry would be a welcome result of these international developments and would go far towards propelling Barbados forward as a global business hub.”

Haynes noted that as Bridgetown prepares for the next round of evaluations by the FATF, BIBA is hopeful that both the public and private sectors will keep the momentum going and continue to meet the commitments to address any further technical deficiencies that were flagged by the evaluation team.

“The levelling of the playing field through the introduction of the global minimum corporate tax means that Barbados must capitalise on every comparative advantage that we have. Being recognised for a well-regulated financial system is the type of international signal that can bring more global investors and businesses to our shores,” she said. (BT/EJ)