NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Opposition Shadow minister for Finance Kwasi Thompson yesterday said the country’s reputation was under attack and questioned whether the government had hired an international PR firm to manage the country’s international response to the collapse of crypto exhange giant FTX.
Attorney General Ryan Pinder last night said any attempt to lay the entirety of the blame for the FTX debacle on this nation is a “gross oversimplification of reality” during a national address.
In a statement, Thompson welcomed Pinder’s statement but called the exercise a missed opportunity for Prime Minister Philip Davis to address the country.
Thompson furthered that many in the international community are using the fall of FTX to attack the good reputation of the Bahamas as a well-regulated Financial Services jurisdiction.
He said while the former administration positioned the country to become a world leader in Fintech Financial Services through the passage of the Digital Assets Registration Exchange Act (DARE), the approval to operate as a Digital Exchange and the fall of FTX occurred under the Davis administration’s watch.
“We are saddened that the PLP Government has squandered opportunity after opportunity,” Thompson said.
“We are dismayed that it took this long for a comprehensive statement to be made. Even the S&P in their most recent report on the Bahamas stated “the Bahamas has a sizeable financial sector…The local economy benefited from the activities of a digital exchange over the past year, but this sector may face setbacks as FTX a digital asset exchange headquartered in the Bahamas recently filed for bankruptcy.”
Thompson continued: “The PLP Government’s silence particularly in the international press has already caused irreputable damage. We agree with the Attorney General that comments on this matter must always be responsible. The leader of the Opposition and all members of the Opposition have always spoken in the best interests of our country. This is precisely why I make these comments.
“The Bahamas reputation is under attack. We are a well-regulated and experienced jurisdiction with the best talent in the world and in the interest of our country, we must act to protect our industry. I repeat my statements made in the House of Assembly. We are not saying enough to protect our industry, if we say we are leaders, then we should lead!
Thompson said: “Our leader warned that by leaving a vacuum our competitors and enemies of our country would fill it with their narrative. Where is the communication strategy? One statement is not enough. Have we engaged an international PR firm? Why hasn’t the Government met with the Opposition and more importantly met with Industry to manage the international message in a no-partisan way? The Government must do more to protect our international reputation and the position as industry world leaders left in place by the FNM.”
