Synopsis
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 350,000 centred 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 licences under the Banks and Trust Companies Regulations Act 2000. Confidentiality is excellent with the English common law duty of confidentiality being preserved and expanded upon by statute imposing penalties upon banks, attorneys, auditors and government officials who are privy to private information. Additionally, the Bahamas have no tax treaties or agreements for the exchange of information with any other state except agreements covering mutual assistance in cases of drug trafficking.
THE INTERNATION BUSINESS COMPANY (IBC)
The International Business Companies Act 2000 was introduced at the end of that year repealling the previous IBC legislation which allowed for companies to be quickly and easily incorporated for the purpose of transacting offshore business. This was following international pressure to abolish bearer shares and bring more transparency into company affairs so that from early 2001, IBCs have the following characteristics:
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Last reviewed: Wednesday, May 26, 2010
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