The Bahamas is strengthening its position as a leading international financial services jurisdiction by continuing to modernize its legal and regulatory framework and introducing new solutions designed to meet the evolving needs of global families, investors and international family offices.
Senator the Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister of Economic Affairs, outlined the Government’s latest financial services reforms and investment initiatives during his address to the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners’ Latin American Conference (STEP LATAM), held at the Grand Hyatt São Paulo, Brazil, on 17th September, 2026.
The Bahamas Government and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are proud sponsors of STEP LATAM, which brings together financial services professionals from across the Caribbean and Latin America to exchange ideas, build relationships and examine developments shaping the international financial services industry.
“It is such a pleasure to be here in São Paulo. There is no better place in Latin America to talk about the future of financial services than this city,” Minister Fitzgerald said. “São Paulo is the financial heart of Latin America, and its reach spans the entire region. The ties between Brazilian families and Bahamian financial services run long and deep.”
Balancing stability with innovation
Minister Fitzgerald, who was appointed Minister of Economic Affairs in May, said The Bahamas’ strength as a financial services centre is rooted in its ability to combine its longstanding advantages with continuous innovation and adaptation.
The country’s strategic location near Florida and the major markets of the Western Hemisphere, its political and economic stability, continuity in financial services legislation and depth of professional expertise were highlighted as important elements of the jurisdiction’s appeal.
“Our real strength, the thing that keeps us on top, is our people,” he said. “The Bahamas has one of the highest concentrations of financial services talent in the world, and many of those professionals are in this room today.”
He said the jurisdiction takes “a measured but progressive approach, one that balances innovation with compliance and keeps client needs in focus.”
New solutions for the Brazilian market
A significant focus of the Minister’s presentation was The Bahamas’ continued development of wealth-planning solutions tailored to the changing needs of the Brazilian market.
For Brazilian families considering an international wealth-planning jurisdiction, Minister Fitzgerald said The Bahamas offers a combination of a common law framework, structures that can respond to civil law planning traditions, and an experienced international private wealth sector.
He pointed to a number of recent reforms, including the statutory demerger provisions introduced through amendments to the International Business Company Act at the end of 2023.
The reform provides a statutory mechanism for an International Business Company (IBC) to demerge into two or more IBCs. The structure can, for example, allow a family investment company to separate a long-term investment portfolio from an operating business, accommodate different ownership arrangements, prepare assets for a transaction or facilitate succession planning.
“The demerger was not the only corporate reform that we made for Brazilian family planning,” Minister Fitzgerald said.
Segregated Accounts Company reforms
The Minister also highlighted the new ‘Segregated Accounts Company Act’, passed in 2025. He explained that while The Bahamas’ segregated accounts company regime had traditionally been used largely within a regulated environment, the reforms recognize the needs of families with broad portfolios of family investments seeking structures outside the investment fund environment. The revised framework allows segregated portfolios to be used for purposes including family wealth structuring and succession planning. A distinctive feature of the reform is the concept of an ‘incorporated segregated account’, under which an incorporated segregated account becomes a separate legal entity.
“This provides a family unit with the ability to have commercial transactions between the segregated accounts of a SAC,” Minister Fitzgerald said, adding that it can also provide enhanced corporate governance between portfolios and greater certainty when planning the future reorganization of family assets in anticipation of succession.
Bahamian Usufruct regime to take effect
Minister Fitzgerald also highlighted the ‘Usufruct Interest Act’, which was passed and brought into law earlier this year. The legislation establishes a framework for separating legal ownership from rights to use, benefit from or exercise governance control over property—an approach intended to provide greater familiarity for Brazilian advisers working with clients accustomed to civil law concepts.
“For a Brazilian family, the underlying planning question is familiar: how can the next generation participate in ownership while a parent retains defined economic or governance rights?” he said.
Minister Fitzgerald announced that the Government expects the full implementation of the Bahamian Usufruct regime within the next month.
He said regulations providing guidance on the interpretation of the legislation have been signed off and will provide the necessary mechanisms for creating a Usufruct over Bahamian assets, including shares in a Bahamian IBC.
“There is much anticipation for the use of the Bahamian usufruct. We will deliver on this promise in just a few weeks,” he said.
The Minister also emphasized that the reforms are designed to work together, allowing advisers to combine tools such as demergers, usufructs, segregated accounts companies and trusts in developing succession and wealth-planning structures.
“Our toolbox continues to innovate in a way that provides maximum options and flexibility to you and your clients,” he said.
Bahamas Tax Residency Certificate
Beyond corporate structures, Minister Fitzgerald outlined the Government’s plans to provide greater certainty for globally mobile families and individuals through the introduction of a ‘Bahamas Tax Residency Certificate’.
He said draft legislation required to implement the certificate has been completed and will soon be presented to Parliament. Under the proposed framework, a person who spends 90 days in The Bahamas during a calendar year would be eligible to apply, with the 90 days not required to be consecutive.
The initiative is intended to accommodate the lifestyle of globally mobile families and retirees who may divide their time among several countries while seeking certainty regarding their tax residency in The Bahamas.
Bahamas Invest Concierge Unit
The Government is also preparing to launch the ‘Bahamas Invest Concierge Unit’, which Minister Fitzgerald said will provide investors with a single point of contact throughout the investment approval process.
“When your client decides to invest in The Bahamas, the Bahamas Invest Concierge Unit will guide them through the entire process, from the first enquiry to the final approval,” he said.
Applications and approvals, he said, would be managed through a single point of contact, with the service intended to improve the experience for investors making a genuine commitment to The Bahamas. The initiative will include investors in government bonds that grant economic permanent residency, as well as those investing in real estate.
Minister Fitzgerald said the programme will also ensure that ‘Family Island projects’ are included, providing opportunities for investors to benefit from developments beyond New Providence.
New framework for global family offices
The Minister further outlined the Government’s plans to attract substantial international family offices to The Bahamas and establish greater certainty for families seeking to locate their wealth-management decision-making centres in the country. He said the Government intends to treat the establishment of a substantial family office as a ‘high-value foreign direct investment project’, rather than simply another business.
Under the proposed approach, families establishing meaningful substance in The Bahamas would have access to a transparent framework setting out expectations between the family office and the Government.
The framework is intended to provide a single government-facing agreement, transparent and expedited approvals, and greater certainty around immigration, tax and business-licence treatment, regulatory requirements and exchange controls.
“Bring the decision-making centre of your family wealth to The Bahamas. Establish real substance here. Employ people here. Use Bahamian professional and financial services,” Minister Fitzgerald told delegates.
“In return,” he noted, “The Bahamas will give you a clear immigration position, a known tax and business-licence treatment, a defined regulatory perimeter, exchange-control certainty, coordinated government approvals and a single point of contact.”
Positioning The Bahamas for the next decade
Minister Fitzgerald said the reforms form part of a broader effort to build on the strengths that have established The Bahamas as a trusted international private wealth centre while developing the tools and services required to meet future market demands.
“The Bahamas is building on its strengths while it evolves to meet the changing needs of global investors,” he said.
“We are keeping everything that made us a trusted centre for private wealth, and we are adding the tools, services, and systems needed for success over the next decade.”
He said innovation and stability should not be viewed as competing concepts, arguing instead that The Bahamas’ stability is reinforced by its willingness to adapt.
“Our stability comes from our willingness to innovate. We change our laws and our services as conditions change, and that is precisely what has kept the industry steady for so long,” he said.
Minister Fitzgerald noted the importance of STEP LATAM as a forum for continued collaboration and development within the financial services industry, and welcomed the strong Bahamian delegation attending the conference.
“The Bahamas is proud to always have such robust attendance from our delegation, which is a testament to our dedication to remaining at the top tier of financial services,” he said.
Concluding his remarks, Minister Fitzgerald invited international advisers and their clients to consider The Bahamas when determining where to establish wealth structures, residency or family offices.
“The next time you sit with a client deciding where to place a structure, where to establish residency, or where to base a family office, take a good look at The Bahamas,” he said.
“Add us to your shortlist and put us to the test. We are more than ready to meet your needs.”
He added: “We have the stability, the expertise, and the innovation. And we’re inviting the world to build and grow with us.”
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