Director of Investar Securities Ltd. Sebas Bastian revealed yesterday that the company will be applying to The Central Bank of the Bahamas (CBOB) for remittance and electronic banking licenses in light of the regulator's proposal to regulate e-money activities.
Bastian, who is also CEO of Island Luck, told reporters that he is interested in expanding Investar's product offerings.
Investar Securities is also Island Luck's placement agency as the company works towards releasing an initial public offering (IPO).
"We feel that given our technology background and infrastructure we have across The Bahamas, we think we can use the geographic infrastructure of some of our sister companies for 'brick and mortar' locations to facilitate Investar's products and services in the electronic services industry," said Bastian.
"It is something that is a top priority on our agenda."
Bastian explained that the investment company is waiting on the Central Bank to finalize the regulations that would allow it to issue such licenses to Investar.
Investar currently has a financial services license and a restrictive fund license to perform bill payments and fund administrations, according to Bastian.
"As a part of our product offering, we are also adding the electronic payments side of things.
"I think we would be a good force in that industry."
In terms of the IPO, Bastian explained why its launch, set for last month, was delayed.
"Our audit took a lot longer than what we originally planned for," he said.
"We got our audit last week. It was an unqualified audit.
"It is a great milestone after only being regulated for two and a half years."
He noted that without the audit, the application could not progress with the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB).
However, initial dialogue with SCB has been "productive and responsive", said Bastian.
"With the audit in hand, we are compiling the rest of the submission and we are looking to have a submission as soon as next week," continued.
"We don't foresee any hiccups in the process."
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