Gowon Bowe
Gowon Bowe, the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Bahamas accountant and partner, said The Bahamas cannot continue to thrive on private banking going forward, despite the argument that The Bahamas' financial services industry - an anchorage for many private banks - continues to be the country's second largest pillar of revenue injection.
Bowe asserted that although the world around us is changing, "we shouldn't forget a couple of things".
"Firstly, The Bahamas as a jurisdiction created the captive insurance market that Bermuda is benefiting from. Right now, although under tremendous stress, The Bahamas represents probably the most prominent trust jurisdiction in terms of high net individuals.
"We can't hope to continue doing business in terms of private banking because banking is just a facility that is not a product," said Bowe.
Speaking with Guardian Business, Bowe touted product development.
"You have to now start saying how do you create products that are going to be beneficial to the high-net-worth individuals who want to have an environment in which they can disclose their identity to the institutions but not necessarily to everyone and also they want high quality service."
"If we have trained so many Bahamians over the years, then we have to tap into their collective brainpower," he said.
Bowe insisted that Bahamians have to be willing to travel abroad in order to gain experience and knowledge about catering to the needs of high net worth individuals.
"If you are going to be serious about redefining your financial services, then you have to be where these persons with a high net worth reside and be where all the high-stakes transactions take place. You can't run away from spending time in London, New York, and in Singapore. You have to be willing to come out of your comfort zone and learn new cultures and languages," he said.
Bowe advised Bahamians to learn what people are looking so that they return with a "tremendous amount of knowledge and experience."
"Our people are the things we need to leverage," he added.
Xian Smith, Guardian Business
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