Regulatory compliance is a critical to any financial services firm in today’s environment. Remaining compliant is challenging given constant changes to the principles of risk management and regulatory compliance, both internationally and in The Bahamas.

Our Financial Services Law & Regulation group has extensive experience in the regulatory and anti-money laundering fields. We are well versed in the laws and regulations governing the financial services industry of The Bahamas. We advise a substantial number of local and international banks, trust companies and securities firms operating within and/or from within The Bahamas.

A partner in our group has served as a private sector legal advisor to the Bahamas Government respecting substantial legislative restructuring of the financial services industry of this jurisdiction in response to initiatives of the Financial Stability Forum, the Financial Action Task Force and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Another member of our group has served in the legal department of the Securities Commission of The Bahamas. Additionally, given our established relationship with regulatory agencies and our involvement with the development of financial service law, we can draw on experience to offer prompt and clear advice to help our clients determine how best to maintain compliance in an increasingly complex and dynamic regulatory environment.

We are able to assist applicants for licenses or registration to operate under various financial services related regimes, as well as to advise existing licensees and registrants through regulatory issues that might arise. We are also able to assist financial service firms with satisfying the regulatory requirements relative to anti-money-laundering and counter financing of terrorism, including:

• the development and assessment of anti-money laundering and compliance systems;
• the conduct of mock regulatory inspections and anti-money-laundering health checks;
• anti-money-laundering training;
• consultation on KYC and due diligence best practices (e.g. the handling of non-compliant relationships);
• the provision of KYC information verification services (e.g. non-compliant/high risk clients);
• suspicious transactions reporting; and
• compliance with production and/or freeze orders issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit or the Bahamian Courts.