Professor Avinash Persaud believes the attack on offshore financial centres, which has “been in remission”, will probably resume in 12 months.
He noted that the next two heads of the Group of 20 countries – Korea and France – believe offshore financial centres were not a positive development in the international financial arena.
“They believe they are a source of risk –and today, with governments so hard-pressed on fiscal policy, they also believe they are a source of leaking tax revenue and that is why the attack will resume,” he said.
Persaud made the comments during the International Business Week Conference at Hilton Barbados on Thursday.
He said also that Barbados could become a world-class international business centre by offering regulatory framework that caters to the needs of different types of businesses.
“We have to identify specific niches where our investment, because it’s concentrated and focused, can make us world-class.
“I think the opportunity for those niches has arisen because, as a result of the global financial crisis, major centres are overregulating,” the chairman of Intelligence Capital Limited said.
Persaud said those centres were oblivious to “the fact that different types of businesses require different types of regulation” and required them to follow a type of regulation that is not appropriate for their activities or the risks they’re taking.
He suggested that Barbados “regulate better than they’re regulating and attract business on the grounds that our regulation is not permissive, not light, but it is right for that business”. (NB)
