Minister rules out offshore banking

Traditional offshore banking which has been affiliated with money laundering will not be one of the services to be provided by the Government's proposed Trinidad and Tobago International Financial Centre (TTIFC).

Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira made the disclosure on Tuesday as she announced the time had come for "an alternate strategy" to move this country's economy away from its dependence on the oil and gas sector. She said development of the financial services sector was one way to do so.

Nunez-Tesheira spoke on these issues during a symposium on the TTIFC, held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, in downtown Port of Spain.

Nunez-Tesheria said the benefits of establishing the TTIFC could be "substantial" since as it could prove to be the key element of a sustainable diversified economy would and would not be provided.

"We envisage that the TTIFC will be a designated hub that will provide a range of front office financial services, including but not limited to banking, asset management, capital markets activities, specialised insurance operations and futures transactions on the international commodities markets. It will not be involved in traditional offshore banking activities," Nunez-Tesheira said.

She said global and domestic trends have been converging to facilitate the establishment of the TTIFC since the financial services sector has been the fastest growing non-energy sector during the period 2000 to 2007 at an average growth rate of 8.2 per cent.

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Minister rules out offshore banking