A former advisor to the Ministry of Finance is seeking to explain comments made by Barbadian Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler this week that The Bahamas has been placed on a watch list by the Financial Stability Board (FSB).
While not willing to speculate on the exact motives of Sinckler, or which list he might have been referring to, Rowena Bethel said the FSB published a report in November of last year identifying The Bahamas as having planned or requested a review of the international cooperation and exchange of information regime for its securities sector.
The same report also identified Barbados as having done the same for its banking and securities sectors.
The last time The Bahamas received a financial sector assessment review, which would have included a review of international cooperation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was 2004, she said, with the next apparently scheduled for June of this year.
She told Guardian Business, as a preliminary measure, FSB would have referred to the most recent IMF reports and information from the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to determine whether a country is meeting the international standard for cooperation.
Where the earlier report identified deficiencies in meeting this standard, the FSB has sought to obtain an update on measures taken by the country to address them.
"We get excited about lists without necessarily understanding what their purpose is," Bethel said.  "People need to understand the context under which the comments were made. The role of the FSB is to coordinate the activities of standard-setting bodies to ensure that countries are putting in regulatory measures and meeting standards. As part of their exercise, they went back and looked at the previous IMF reviews."
On February 28, Sinckler said Barbados and The Bahamas have been placed on a watch list of countries for examination by the FSB, which is an off-shoot of the Group of 20 (G-20). The minister made the comments during a visit from European Union officials.
Barbados is preparing to access million of dollars in funding to build an Institute of Financial Risk and Regulation.
"The Financial Stability Board, an offshoot of the G-20 process for the regulation and examination of financial centers, has put Barbados and The Bahamas on their list of countries for examination and for watch, even though we only control less than one percent of the resources flowing through in terms of the global financial architecture and structure," the finance minister said at the time.
The FSB report, which has been obtained by Guardian Business, provides a list of jurisdictions that have demonstrated a strong adherence to international regulations.  Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands are the only Caribbean jurisdictions on this list.
Jurisdictions planning to take action on FSB recommendations include The Bahamas, Barbados, Colombia, Hungary and Malaysia.
Nations such as China, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Poland have already commenced efforts to sufficiently adhere to the international measures and regulations, according to the report, while FSB is in dialogue with Greece, Mauritius, Russia and Turkey.
Zhivargo Laing, the minister of finance, told Guardian Business, "We are not sure what Sinckler is talking about.  There is no new listing The Bahamas is on that causes us any concern at all," he added.

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