Prime Minister Perry Christie has signaled that the government is set to undertake an overhaul of immigration policies as they relate to investors and the financial services sector.
Speaking during the wrap up to the mid-year budget debate, Christie said that growing the financial services industry will "require new thinking and a new level of tolerance".
Christie said that various ministries of the government are engaged in an effort to design a "transparent, predictable and user-friendly immigration policy to attract foreign investors and entrepreneurs who intend to make a meaningful commitment to the overall development" of The Bahamas.
Noting that other countries The Bahamas is in competition with have taken a more facilitative approach to th e immigration of individuals to work in their key sectors, Christie said that The Bahamas loses out by not also attracting the persons that it needs to "grow its pie".
He said that going forward, the government will be committed to beginning to sensitize The Bahamian public to "the reality that financial services is everyone's business".
"A further reality means that in order for the sector to continue to improve the lives of ordinary Bahamians, it is imperative that the sector grow - both through internal resources and also by
attracting foreign capital and talent," he said.
Christie said that he has been assured that by upgrading the country's immigration policy The Bahamas should benefit from a greater level of investment.
"The financial services industry assures me that with the right government policy (and I am not talking about policies that are found in some of our neighbors to the South!), I mean a development focused immigration policy - a large number of persons are willing to invest in the country and to choose The Bahamas as their place of primary residence.
"I have charged the Minister of Financial Services to create a policy which not only attracts homeowners but also individuals who are job and wealth creators. I would like to attract people who want to establish businesses along the lines of the National Investment Policy, and those which complement the existing skills pool of The Bahamas and encourages higher education," he said.
Christie pointed to efforts to encourage the re-development of the Bahamian captive insurance industry, and upcoming debate on legislation that would enable the establishment of "a new fund product that will revolutionize the way we do business with Latin America" as two other initiatives being undertaken by the government to reinvigorate and maintain the competitiveness of the financial services industry, following dialogue with the sector.

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