Lawyer and financial services practitioner Paul Moss has taken issue with Prime Minister Perry Christie calling for the liberalization of the Bahamas bar, calling it "fantasy" and "a dead wrong premise" to suggest that allowing foreign lawyers to set up shop in The Bahamas would encourage growth in the financial services sector. In fact, according to Moss, the growth or lack thereof of the financial services industry has nothing to do with liberalization of the bar.

Christie spoke at the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) International Business Financial Summit last week, wading into the wrangling between proponents of a liberalized bar and those who oppose allowing foreign practitioners to work in The Bahamas without stringent regulations. Christie told the seminar that the services model The Bahamas has chosen is international business and therefore must, by its nature, include an international element. No international financial center, he argued, operates without openness.

"We have been grappling with the issue of openness for some time now, in our sector. If we are to grow, we must face this issue head-on and accept the international nature of our sector. In this regard, we will over the next year work with the BFSB to conclude a number of issues to ensure that we preserve the international nature of the offshore  sector, while strengthening opportunities for Bahamians.

"These will include incentivizing training opportunities for Bahamians in global corporates, ensuring that there are meaningful exchanges within The Bahamas through effective work permit processes and providing the opportunities for residency for those non-Bahamians who wish to create employment in high value sectors, such as financial services in The Bahamas. Just as the accounting sector is already open, the legal fraternity must explore how they can get the requisite expertise to fully support the financial services sector as it evolves," the prime minister said.

Moss spoke to Guardian Business to object to Christie's assertion.

"There is no empirical data to suggest that liberalizing the bar would guarantee growth. This is fantasy, and the lack of creativeness and transparency," he said.

Moss also said it was a mistake - and a "bothersome" one - for Christie to call The Bahamas an "offshore" jurisdiction.

"This is a mistake that is bothersome for OECD (the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and other alphabet groups and others, as we are seen as an offshore tax haven. We have completely missed the boat on taxation. We need to be known as a low-tax jurisdiction with double taxation agreements with almost every country in the world. We are still swimming against the tide in this area, and facing blacklists every other year, it would seem.

"There is sufficient legitimate business for us to go after competitively if we adjust our tax regime. Even though the government is aware of this, they are paralyzed to make the change. This change alone would bring growth to the sector," Moss contended.

He asserted that lawyers "worth their salt" in London, New York or Zurich will not move to The Bahamas to set up shop.

"There is no need to. Technology has overtaken this idea, and these lawyers can do the same work on a train in their city as opposed to living here in The Bahamas. Its a stale and self-serving idea from those who don't understand the industry," said Moss.

"The truth is, the reason for the continuous slippage for almost 20 years is due to our leaders not truly understanding the business and not keeping up to date with or foreshadowing world trends.

"For example, a truly functional Supreme Court with dedicated and experienced judges in the commercial area is wanting. There is no dedicated commercial court with a judge or judges dedicated to it. We see Justice Ian Winder, who is qualified and who adjudicated on the complex Baha Mar matter, now being assigned to a criminal court. That does not help, as any investor would want to be sure that in the event of a dispute their matter is going to be dealt with swiftly and competently," Moss said.

He added that the infrastructure in the Registrar General's Department is "broken".

"Even the new electronic incorporation system implemented two months ago does not work properly. There are times that documents have been either lost or misplaced, and the internationally required efficiency is lacking. The employees there are working hard, but one can see that they are either understaffed or there is poor staff deployment," he said.

"To improve this, the Registrar General should be made autonomous, an autonomous corporation with qualified staff with salaries commensurate with the experience and level of responsibility. It would improve the efficiency tremendously," Moss argued.

He stressed that it is the industry infrastructure itself that is retarding the growth of the sector.

"It is well-known, well-documented that if you go to court now and get a court matter, chances are that's in 2018. That's a problem. You have to correct that first. You take documents to the Registry, you try to use the online incorporation system, it doesn't work or it doesn't work properly. That needs to be solved.

"And then you have this idea where you believe that hot shot, top gun lawyers are going to leave their lucrative practice in the big city and come to The Bahamas... The reality is that we are not even competing on that level. If you want to attract that business, you ought to do what those countries do - they have a tax regime, and those lawyers are there making money on the tax regime.

"We still are trying to hold ourselves out as offshore - as the prime minister indicated - which is the wrong premise. Its a dead wrong premise."

By K. Quincy Parker

Guardian Staff

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