Banking & Financial Services In The Bahamas: Overview

• Published date: 19 March 2021
• Subject Matter: Finance and Banking, Corporate/Commercial Law, Financial Services, Securities
• Law Firm: Lennox Paton
• Author: Dwayne Whylly

Legislation

2020 saw the modernisation of key financial services legislation. The Central Bank of The Bahamas (Central Bank) sought to consolidate and modernise its primary legislation, repealing and replacing the Banks and Trust Companies Regulations Act (BTCRA). The new BTCRA, greatly enhances the ability of the Central Bank to take steps to maintain financial stability, protect depositors and enhance public confidence in the stability of the Bahamian banking system. In particular, the new BTCRA empowers the Central Bank to intervene as a statutory administrator or liquidator of a licensee in order to accomplish those aims.

Likewise, in a step to modernise the non-banking financial services sector, the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (Securities Commission) oversaw the repeal and replacement of the legislation governing financial and corporate service providers. The new legislation brought into force in December 2020 modernises the licensing regime, expands the oversight function of the Securities Commission and enhances the consumer protection regime in respect of financial and corporate services.

The Securities Commission also introduced the Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges Act, 2020 (DARE Act) in December 2020. The DARE Act regulates the issuance and sale of digital tokens, as well as the conduct of those issuing digital tokens and those providing intermediary services related to the issuance of digital tokens.

Key Developments

Digital tokens were a theme of 2020, as the...