Tuesday, November 29, 2011'Seal The Deal'

NEIL HARTNELLBahamas Must 'Seal The Deal'

A BAHAMIAN attorney has called for this nation to remove the legal requirement that a seal be affixed to a deed before it is deemed executed, telling Tribune Business this "antiquated" practice was causing "unnecessary issues" with document validity.

Heather Thompson, attorney and partner at Higgs & Johnson, said such a move would help take the Bahamas "into the 21st century", citing situations where foreign companies needing to execute Bahamian documents did not have a corporate seal.

Asked by Tribune Business what she would most like to see changed, Ms Thompson said: "I can think of one thing that has really been irking me for a long time, and it's not necessarily related to private wealth management.

"It's to remove a requirement from our laws to actually affix a seal to a dead. Most jurisdictions say you've executed it as a deed, and then that deed meets the requirements of a deed.

"Here, you come into situations where a Swiss company is executing a Bahamian deed, and does not have a seal. It's too antiquated in this day and age, and causes unnecessary issues with the validity of documents."

While it would be a small, but important fix, Ms Thompson said such amendments would codify previous Supreme Court rulings into Bahamian statute law.

"We have a decision from Justice Lyons, but it's always better to put changes into law, and no one has to question it. Then we will be in the 21st century," she added.

Meanwhile, Ms Thompson said the Bahamas was increasingly being recognised as "a serious competitor" by its international financial centre rivals, and the start of a four-strong package of legislation's passage through Parliament was set to give the sector a further "boost".

The Senate last week passed amendments to the existing Trustee and Purpose Trust Acts, plus a Bill to abolish the Rule Against Perpetuities, as well as the Executive Entities Bill. All four will now make their way to the House of Assembly, where they should make it on to the legislative agenda pre-Christmas.

"I just came from the STEP [Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners] Latin American conference, and was very encouraged by the prominence of the Bahamas in terms of speaker presentations and the general atmosphere," Ms Thompson said.

"I think people are looking at the Bahamas as a serious competitor. We had a presentation by a Cayman attorney on funds, and he did mention Bahamian SMART funds, although with some reluctance. But that shows a big improvement in the way we're regarded overall."

Acknowledging that Caribbean rivals, the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands (BVI), had gained a head start on the Bahamas in attempting to penetrate the Asian market, Ms Thompson said: "Asia's a bit tougher. It's more competitive.

"That's the fastest growth area. Everyone is flocking there and the clients are extremely cost conscious. It's tough to crack.

"The BVI and Cayman have been working that market for a long time, and have more name recognition, but we're finally showing ourselves and Wendy Warren at the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) has been really instrumental in moving that area forward."

While the Bahamas often produced "good ideas", and innovative products and services such as the Executive Entities Bill, Ms Thompson said the jurisdiction sometimes let itself down through its failure to execute speedily and market properly, together with the absence of a large enough specialist attorney base.
Bahamas Must 'Seal The Deal'

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