The Bahamas Financial Services Board attended the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners LATAM Conference 2018 in Mexico City, Mexico on October 4th-5th. The STEP LATAM Conference 2018 was held at the Hyatt Regency in Mexico City. In attendance were over three hundred delegates from all around the world. The Bahamas was well represented with almost thirty Bahamian delegates in attendance.

Bahamian Contingent at STEP LATAM 2018

STEP is the global professional association for practitioners who specialize in family inheritance and succession planning. The STEP Caribbean Conference has a strong track record that spans twenty years of educating and informing trust and estate practitioners. It offers practitioners a rich opportunity for the learning and sharing of ideas, as well as discussing recent developments and global industry trends.

The STEP LATAM Conference agenda focused on key issues such as:

  1. CRS: This Is It
  2. Tax Evasion and Corruption
  3. Post Amnesty Experience in LATAM
  4. The Great Debate: Transparency vs Privacy
  5. The Forms of Family Offices in Latin America

Conference Delegates also gained insight from case study breakout sessions which were examined from three jurisdictional points of view, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. In his remarks, The Hon. Minister Brent Symonette, Minister of Financial Services, Trade, Industry and Immigration stated that,

“The Bahamas maintains its place as a premier international financial center and has historically demonstrated its commitment to providing high quality service to families that span the globe as one of the world’s foremost wealth management centers. And, while private wealth management serves as the foundation, the Bahamas offers a full range of services, including private banking, estate planning, asset management, fund administration and other corporate and financial services. We also provide services to the international capital markets, insurance and maritime industries. This diversity reflects The Bahamas’ long history in providing financial services, as well as our ongoing commitment to maintaining our position as a provider of high-quality financial services.”

With over eighty years of experience in financial services, few jurisdictions can match the wealth-management credentials of the Bahamas. The ease of communications, favorable tax regimes and favourable trust laws are some of the key reasons why the Bahamas is so highly rated as a premier wealth management jurisdiction. BFSB’s presence at STEP LATAM 2018 was aimed at showcasing why the Bahamas is one of the leading jurisdictions for trust, estate planning and wealth management.