The Bahamas are a group of around 700 islands located off the south east coast of the state of Florida, USA and have been an independent member of the British Commonwealth since 1973. The Bahamas have one of the oldest parliamentary democracies in the western hemisphere and the islands have a political and legal system which closely follows the UK system and British common law applies.

The population is approximately 255,000 centered principally on the capital city of Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Islands boast excellent communications with a state of the art telephone system and convenient flight links to most major international air routes.

The Bahamas have an excellent range of international banks based in the islands with currently 396 banks holdings licenses under the Banks and Trust Companies Regulations Act 1965. Confidentiality was excellent but the Office of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas has announced the adoption of a package of financial services legislation, which came into force on December 29, 2000. These new laws include:

The International Business Companies Act, 2000

The Financial and Corporate Service Providers Act, 2000

The Central Bank Act, 2000

The Financial Transactions Reporting Act, 2000

The Financial Intelligence Unit Act, 2000

The Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act, 2000

The Proceeds of Crime Act, 2000

The Dangerous Drugs Act, 2000

The alleged purpose of this legislation is to bring the laws, regulations and supervision of The Bahamas’ financial services sector into full compliance with the new and evolving standards established by the Basle Committee on Banking and strengthen its processes with regard to international cooperation.

THE BAHAMAS INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANY (IBC)

In January 1990 the Bahamas introduced the International Business Companies Act which allows for companies to be quickly and easily incorporated for the purpose of transacting offshore business. However the Bahamas recently changed its IBC Companies Act and it is no longer possible to incorporate companies with bearer shares, and the names of the directors and officers must be filed at the Public Registry. Furthermore, we need to have for our files the name of the beneficial owner for each company. Bahamas companies have now the following characteristics:

TAXATION

IBCs pay no taxes in Bahamas

SHAREHOLDERS

A minimum of one shareholder is required and only registered shares may be issued. No details of the shareholders appear on the public file but a register of shareholders must be kept at the registered office address of the company in Bahamas.

DIRECTORS

A minimum of two directors is required and corporate directors are permitted. Details of the directors appear on the public file.

ANNUAL REPORTING

No annual return or accounts need be filed. It should be noted that penalty fees of up to 50% of the annual license fee will be incurred if the license fee is not paid when due.

TIMESCALE

Incorporation can be achieved within 24 hours but takes approximately 2 weeks for documents to arrive from Bahamas. We do, however, keep ready-made companies in stock available for immediate purchase.

RESTRICTIONS ON NAME AND ACTIVITY

Names must end with one of the following words, or abbreviations thereof - Limited, Corporation, Incorporated, Societe Anonyme or Sociedad Anonima.

The following words, and their associated activities, cannot be used: Assurance, Bank, Building Society, Chamber of Commerce, Chartered, Cooperative, Imperial, Insurance, Municipal and Royal.

LOCAL REQUIREMENTS

As a matter of local company law the company MUST maintain a registered office address within the Bahamas and must also appoint a Bahamas resident as registered agent. We would generally provide these services as part of the domiciliary fee. Also, a general meeting shall be held at least once in every year.

SECRECY

There are now specific statutory provisions governing secrecy in relation to companies but English Law, which applies within the jurisdiction, does impose a common law duty on professionals to keep the affairs of their clients confidential.