Offshore bank now ‘high risk’

A Barbados-domiciled offshore bank has been reclassified from “low risk” to “high risk” by American authorities over the past few days.
And the Barbados International Business Association (BIBA) is concerned that this unexpected development may be linked to France’s political posturing, signalling real economic consequences for Barbados.
BIBA?president Connie Smith said she was acutely concerned, in light of recent pronouncements by France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy that classified Barbados as a “tax haven” in the company of some of the world’s less well regulated and well established international financial centres.
In a statement released within the last 72 hours, the BIBA boss urged Government to “use all diplomatic channels at its disposal to have this matter resolved before this reputational risk undermines Barbados’ standing as a jurisdiction of choice from which to operate”.
Read the full story in today’s DAILY NATION.