Proposed legislation to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in The Bahamas will assist business owners in accessing capital, according to Winston Rolle, chairman of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC).

In 2010 the BCCEC developed a proposal for new legislation supporting SMEs.

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Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe announced that the Bahamas Out Island Promotions Board will get a substantial increase in government funding to better promote the Family Islands. Watch a ZNS news report on the announcement.

Experienced investor James Hunt, president of The MITA Group, spoke at a Nassau seminar recently to advise Bahamian SMEs on how to attract investors and what to look for when investing themselves.

The businessman, who has founded and run four technology companies in the past two decades, said he looks at five criteria when determining whether something is a good investment: the product; the team; the market; whether it would be possible to get the product to market; and the valuation.

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The Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) was in Europe this week, promoting the jurisdiction through its Landfall Bahamas: Destination Europe promotional campaign.

The series of events combined networking opportunities and presentations on The Bahamas financial services sector designed to attract services intermediaries, high-net-worth individuals and investors.

During this tour, Bahamas Landfall events took place in Zurich, Geneva and London.

The high-level delegation included the Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder, BFSB chairman Paul Winder and BFSB chief executive officer and executive director Aliya Allen, along with other Bahamian industry leaders.

At the London event, held in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge on June 25, Minister Pinder spoke about the advantages The Bahamas has in financial services and highlighted the benefits of recently enacted financial services legislation.

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Stuart Bowe, president of the Bahamas Hotel Association, explains the thinking behind the START intern programme for high school children in The Bahamas. Watch an interview with Bowe here.

Bahamian businesses are being encouraged to take advantage of financing programmes offered by the US Export Import Bank (Ex-Im).

Registered broker for the Ex-Im Bank and president of Global Trade and Financing Luis Castillo held a presentation on the work of the bank at a recent seminar organized by the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) and US Embassy.

He urged small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular to apply for financing through the bank which provides loans for companies seeking to import US goods.

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Despite a challenging regulatory and economic environment, the state of the insurance industry remains strong, according to Chester Cooper, president and chief executive officer, BAF Financial and Insurance.
 
Cooper made the comments while addressing members of the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) on future sector trends on June 27.
 
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A little more than a month on from a general election, financial services providers were urged this week to update their politically exposed persons (PEPs) list in line with new Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations.

The revised FATF recommendations of February 2012, now include domestic politicians in their definition of PEPs. 

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Director of sustainable tourism at the Ministry of Tourism Earlston McPhee says that the popularity of The Bahamas as a fly fishing destination is on the rise and that the MInistry has plans to develop the sector further. Watch an interview with McPhee here.

Michael Halkitis, Minister of State for Finance, urged a commitment to strong fiscal reform on Wednesday at the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) half-day seminar on banking and governance issues for professionals.

“We have been able to achieve an enviable level of development in comparison to our peers in the Caribbean, with the highest per capita GDP (gross domestic product) of any independent state in the region and an exchange rate fixed, at parity, with the US dollar,” Halkitis noted.

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