**Hillary Deveaux, Executive Director
Securities Commission of The Bahamas**

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas announced today that the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, has confirmed Hillary Deveaux as Executive Director, effective as of May 16, 2006. Mr. Deveaux was appointed Acting Executive Director of the Commission on December 1, 2002.

Mr. Deveaux was appointed Secretary to the Securities Board (the predecessor to the Securities Commission) on June 1, 1997. Prior to joining the Securities Commission, he served as General Manager of the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation. Other appointments include Project Officer, Caribbean Development Bank in Barbados; Manager of the Eurodollar Division, Bank of New Providence in Nassau; Money Market Manager, Chemical International Finance Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Chemical Bank,) in New York; and Assistant Director, Research Department, Central Bank of the Bahamas.

He received his education at the Government High School, Iowa State University; the London School of Economics and Political Science; and Cambridge University.

Mr. Deveaux has been an Evening Lecturer in Statistics and Economics at the College of the Bahamas, a Lecturer in Economics and Banking & Finance at the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology in Cardiff, Wales, and a Teaching Assistant and Lecturer in Economics at Iowa State University.

Mr. Deveaux is the current Chairman of the Group of Financial Services Regulators and also serves as Chairman of the FTAA Negotiating Group in Services. He is also a member of The Bahamas Trade Commission.

The Securities Commission was established in 1995, with a stated mission *”to effectively oversee and regulate the activities of the securities and capital markets, and to protect investors while strengthening public and institutional confidence in the integrity of those markets.”*

As part of its efforts to keep abreast in an ever-changing global regulatory environment and to ensure a Bahamian contribution in improving the efficiency and conduct of international markets the Commission became a member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) in 1996, and of the Council of Securities Regulators (COSRA) in 1997.

Writing for BFSB’s Annual Report, Executive Director Deveaux said that consistent with its mandate to promote and protect the integrity and stability of the securities industry, the Commission has in recent times, redoubled its efforts to ensure that the industry operates with fairness, efficiency and transparency. *”It has done so by placing the necessary emphasis on raising standards of conduct and on aligning its domestic regulatory framework to international best practices.”* The Commission’s objective, he said, is to create conditions conducive to the development of a securities industry that contributes to a sound financial services sector which is competitive and progressive.