THE GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL tax report on Barbados by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is misleading, says Minister of Foreign Affairs Senator Maxine McClean.
During a feature address at the launch of Capita Financial at Hilton Barbados on Friday night, she said: “The international finances services sector . . . is known as the second largest foreign exchange earner and the largest contributor to corporate tax revenue. However, it is now under threat by negative statements being made by the global forum of the OECD.”
McClean said even though such statements were “nothing new”, it was up to all financial institutions to defend the sector.
“You would probably have heard of the recent pay review report [from the OECD]. This report concludes that Barbados is still not a transparent jurisdiction in respect of international tax co-operation.
“I want to suggest the current comments are somewhat misleading and we, as members of financial institutions, as members of this society and as leaders of the movement to indigenize the international services sector once again, have to ensure that we do all that is necessary to defend the reputation of Barbados,” she said.
McClean said Government was determined to foster the development of the financial sector and was aware of its critical role in lending systems, which was why Parliament had recently passed a bill to establish a financial services commission to regulate and supervise the non-banking sector.
“Government is satisfied that, with this body together with the Central Bank, Barbados now has in place a supervisory and regulatory regime that is efficient and effective enough to govern the country’s overall financial systems and ensure it continues to operate at a standard that satisfies best practice,” she said.
McClean said she hoped the newly launched company would give members of the credit union movement the opportunity to invest in it as it was poised to become a public company.
