Sunday, August 07, 2016
SHAW… this is not a new tax haven, but another version of the BPOs
Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw says that the new international finance servicing bill he tabled in Parliament recently, will facilitate a climate of credibility and efficiency in the operations in Jamaica.
“This Bill is tabled to show that we are putting together all the features to give it the necessary instruments of credibility and efficiency,” he told the
Jamaica Observer on Thursday.
Shaw was clarifying the issue of whether he had tabled the new Bill, “The International Corporate and Trust Services Providers Act”, at this time because of indications that the major global environment was more accommodating of an international financial centre (IFC) in Jamaica.
Shaw had championed the idea of making Jamaica an IFC in his first term as Minister of Finance and the Public Service in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration of 2007/2011. However, there were indications that the then Opposition wasn’t sure about the feasibility of the idea.
Responding to concerns from Opposition member Ronald Thwaites, in the House of Representatives in 2009, on whether positioning Jamaica as an offshore centre while the US and Britain had indicated that they would discourage companies from using offshore facilities, Shaw denied that he envisaged an offshore banking operation.
“The concept of the IFC represents another innovative and pragmatic mechanism through which the Government will seek to unlock Jamaica’s potential, as a player in the global financial market,” Shaw told Thwaites.
Governor of the Bank of Jamaica, Brian Wynter, also raised concerns in 2011, stating that IFC in Jamaica would pose “major potential dangers” to the country, if not properly regulated.
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