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IMF: Bahamas Financial Sector Stability Assessment – PDF

The International Monetary Fund released a Financial Sector Stability Assessment on The Bahamas earlier this month. View or download the report here. 

Source:
Date:
Updated:
TheBahamasInvestor.com
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013

This Financial Sector Stability Assessment on The Bahamas was prepared by staff of the International Monetary Fund as background documentation for the periodic consultation with the member country. It is based on the information available at the time it was completed on January 18, 2013.

The key points are as follows:

The Bahamian financial system faces no obvious near-term threats to financial stability. The onshore banking system is well capitalized, liquid, and profitable. Credit risk, particularly for mortgages, will need to be monitored closely in view of existing high non-performing loan (NPL) rates and ongoing economic uncertainties. Stress tests show that the onshore banks can withstand severe shocks to solvency and liquidity.

The offshore financial sector is very large, with total offshore bank assets equivalent to 75 times gross domestic product (GDP) at end-2011, although this mainly reflects large treasury operations of global banks intermediated through the system. Interconnections are predominantly between offshore banks and their foreign parents, and strict firewalls protect the domestic economy and financial system from the offshore sector. A lack of detailed data prevented a more complete assessment of this sector, including stress testing or the calculation of financial soundness indicators.

Financial system oversight has improved greatly over the last decade and the authorities continue to act with resolve on a wide variety of fronts to institute further improvements. However, further strengthening is needed to ensure the financial system remains robust well into the future, particularly in insurance and securities where relatively new legislation is in place, and in pensions, where governing legislation is pending. The offshore sector is supervised on the same principles as the onshore sector, but the vast majority of assets are held in branches and therefore not subject to local capital requirements.

View or download the full report here.

The ZNS broadcast network has reported that although several Bahamians were participating in the Boston Marathon yesterday none are believed to have been hurt. Watch a news report here.

A 12-member team from the Ministry of the Environment are currently in Grand Bahama conducting a site inspection of the BORCO oil storage facilities. Pictured: Some of the team members at the BORCO facility pictured with BORCO's vice president of International Operations Robert Gaffney (second left), and Jeff Hollingsworth (third left), safety manager at BORCO. (BIS Photo/Simon Lewis)

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