St Lucia

In January 2000 we saw the birth of St. Lucia's International Financial Services Industry with the coming into force of seven (7) pieces of legislation designed to make the jurisdiction a modern centre for carrying out international financial services at acceptable international standards. The first licenses to practice in the industry were issued in March of 2000 so the centre did not start to operate until about June of that year. The past 18 months have therefore focused on establishing a solid foundation for the future development of the jurisdiction. This has been achieved by putting in place sound anti-money laundering legislation and enforcement procedures that meet the standards set out by the Financial Action Task Force, a strong regulatory department - the Financial Services Supervision Unit - headed by a Director of International Financial Services and by implementing a licensing regime for service providers operating in the jurisdiction. As part of its strategic plan for the development of the industry, the Government of St. Lucia has also given the highest priority to the sensitisation of practitioners to due diligence processes, programmes relating to the "know your customer" principle and anti-money laundering programmes. These measures have enabled St. Lucia to keep of the "blacklists" of the Financial Action Tasks Force.

The initial set of legislation that launched the jurisdiction includes:-the Registered Agent and Trustee Licensing Act; the International Business Companies Act; the International Trust Act; the International...