Barbados gearing up to strengthen financial sector

Barbados is tightening its regulatory framework to secure its standing as a reputable global business hub.

To support those efforts, it has launched a major educational drive to prepare the financial sector for stringent new beneficial ownership laws.

​On Thursday, the International Business Unit (IBU) hosted a specialised workshop for more than 200 representatives from 112 licensed corporate and trust service providers (CTSPs). 

Stakeholders attending the CTSP workshop. (Photo credit: Ricardo Roberts/Barbados TODAY)

The initiative aims to equip the industry for the implementation of the beneficial ownership legislation and the rollout of the nation’s private central beneficial ownership register, designed to unmask the persons who ultimately own and control companies.

​Sangene Watkins-Diagne, acting director of the IBU, emphasised that compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards is directly linked to the nation’s economic appeal.

​”When Barbados is compliant as a compliant jurisdiction, what that means is that we are attractive for business. In being compliant we are a credible place for investors to welcome investment. I think we must move to the point where we see compliance as part of our competitiveness,” she said.

​While noting that local service providers have traditionally adhered to regulatory standards, she explained that the workshop was prompted by evolving global requirements. 

“Coming out of the FATF fifth round evaluation, the rules have changed a bit. So the purpose of this session is to ensure that our sector is aware of those changes and that they are able to ready themselves,” Watkins-Diagne said.

​The workshop brought together a broad spectrum of the island’s regulatory ecosystem, including the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), anti-corruption agencies and members of the police force.  

Watkins-Diagne stressed that the central register is not merely an exercise in data collection, but an operational tool.

“The information must be available and must be ready for use by police or regulatory authorities who may have to conduct investigations,” she added.

​Leading the technical sessions was regional expert Paul Inniss, a Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) assessor. 

Inniss, who has previously supported the Cayman Islands and Jamaica in strengthening their beneficial ownership systems, challenged attendees to look beyond superficial legal structures.

​”The threat is real for small jurisdictions like us as it relates to the issues of illicit finance and the protection of our financial services sectors.

“The fundamental framework of beneficial ownership, if we get it right, I am of a firm belief that we can certainly mitigate the respective risk that we face,” Inniss maintained.

​He noted that international standards, driven by the FATF, are increasingly focused on improving asset recovery and identifying true corporate controllers.

 “Beneficial ownership is not on the face of Paul Inniss as a shareholder… I’m talking about control. I’m talking about the individuals who really own and control and manage and [are] shot-calling the decisions on these entities.

 “If you truly understand who the individuals are that own and control legal persons and arrangements, then the job of tracing illicit finance is not as difficult as it currently is,” Inniss said.

​The IBU expressed gratitude to the private sector for its ongoing cooperation, reiterating that the joint effort is vital to maintaining Barbados’s long-term reputation as a transparent and well-regulated jurisdiction.

(RR)