business@tribunemedia.net
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022
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EU blacklist threat to insurance costs By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas’ imminent ‘blacklisting’ by the European Union (EU) has sparked fears that increased local insurance rates, and a drastic reduction in the availability of coverage, will be among the repercussions for this nation. Bahamian property and casualty insurers spoken to
by Tribune Business yesterday were guarded in their comments as they are still scrambling to assess the full impact of the blacklisting fall-out for their treaties with European reinsurance companies especially those based in Germany. German reinsurers have a “substantial” share of the reinsurance market in The Bahamas and wider Caribbean, but that nation last year enacted a law
designed to deter its companies and individuals from conducting business with entities in so-called “tax havens”. Inclusion on the EU blacklist, with The Bahamas likely to be added as early as next week, is one of the criteria for identifying “tax havens”. Three German reinsurers - Munich Re, Hanover Re and R & V Re - are among the biggest partners for Bahamian and
“FREE” Sand Dollars will be issued to incentivise early adoption of a Central Bank-backed digital currency that remains “on the runway”, its governor said yesterday, despite a
305 percent circulation increase during 2021. John Rolle, addressing a seminar organised by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), said the payments regulator plans to drive increased usage by targeting what he described as a “subset” of consumers with no-cost Sand Dollars to encourage
Bahamas ‘leads pack’ over digital adoption By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A SENIOR Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) executive yesterday hailed The Bahamas as “a bit of a bellwether” for the Caribbean on digital payments adoption with more than 50
percent of its local clients now using such channels. David Hewick, RBC’s senior director of payments for digital and automation enablement, told a webinar organised by the bank to discuss The Bahamas’
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them to conduct digital transactions via their cell phones. “We’re basically still on the runway in terms of the level of use and circulation,” he explained of the Sand Dollar. “What we do around adoption becomes critically important. We do have a programme to pull the commercial banks into
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Seven-fold jump in Benchmark’s debt to clients no alarm
Caribbean underwriters. Anything preventing the renewal of their reinsurance treaties with Bahamian carriers, as such agreements are typically negotiated at this time of year, or even paying out their share of hurricane, vehicle accident or other claims, would have significant consequences for local insurers, households and businesses.
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‘Free’ Sand Dollars to give currency lift By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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that space. We’re working in this space. “From the Central Bank’s point of view, there’s going to be a deliberate marketing effort to invest in early use by consumers. There will be a sub-set of early adopters the Central Bank will give
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By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BISX-listed firm has reassured investors that the seven-fold increase in monies owed to clients at year-end 2021 is no cause for alarm since it stems from $150m in securities trading activity. Julian Brown, Benchmark (Bahamas) president and chief executive, speaking to Tribune Business ahead of tonight’s annual general meeting (AGM) said the $18.44m shown on the company’s balance sheet represents monies that belonged to customers rather than funds owed to them by the company itself from its own account. Explaining that, as a broker/dealer, it holds client monies in a fiduciary capacity, he added that this sum represented proceeds from securities trading that customers were now collectively seeking to “cash out” and retain. And it was these activities that drove Benchmark’s return to profitability in 2021 via a $3.38m bottom line, which was propelled
JULIAN BROWN by a near-$5.5m increase in commissions paid by clients for conducting their stock market transactions. “That’s just the level of activity we were doing last year. Last year we traded over $150m of securities over our desk on behalf of clients,” Mr Brown told this newspaper, when asked why sums due to clients had jumped from $2.519m to $18.44m year-over-year. “That’s the result of us being able to see a substantial increase in amounts due to clients that cash out with us at the end of the year.” He explained that broker/ dealers such as Benchmark
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