NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas can position itself as a regional leader in commercial structuring, reorganizations and solvency with a “complete overhaul” of its companies law regime, according to Attorney General Ryan Pinder.
Pinder, while addressing the Nassau Conference at the Baha Mar Resort on Thursday, stated: “One area I have identified that we need to collectively recommit to is company reform. I see opportunities for The Bahamas to position itself as a regional leader in commercial structuring, reorganizations and insolvency with a complete overhaul of our companies law regime.
“We recognize that due to the rapidly evolving domestic and international economic and financial services environments, there is a clear need to improve the current law pertaining to the registration of companies, insolvency, and bankruptcy in The Bahamas.”
The Attorney General noted that the government is analyzing the Companies Regime, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Regime, and related legislation to prepare recommendations for the preparation of new, all-encompassing Companies legislation and updated insolvency and bankruptcy legislation.
“We look to be akin to a nearshore Delaware, a jurisdiction known for its commercial expertise and innovation. With the international tax and compliance developments, we have seen a move to onshoring or nearshoring of company structures; we need to position ourselves at the front of this industry movement. Only sophisticated, international best practices companies’ regime will position us,” said Pinder.
Pinder also provided a brief update on the status of the development and launch of the new online portal for companies at the Registrar General, a platform he noted is similar to the platform used in the Cayman Islands and designed by the same developers.
He noted that prior to the launch of the system, there is the important function of data migration for all current companies, an exercise which is ongoing, with more than 400,000 files having been migrated.
According to Pinder, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Pinder says the government is on track for a full launch of the online portal for current companies in the first week of December.
