Government: The December 2001 general elections returned the ruling St. Lucia Labour Party to power with a 14-3 majority. The Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony added the Ministry of International Financial Services to his pre-election portfolio. He succeeds former Minister Philip J Pierre who had assumed the portfolios of Commerce and Trade, Tourism and Investment. Please click here for full story.

Regulator: A new Director of Financial Services has been appointed. Nestor Alfred formerly a senior employee with an international bank in Cayman Islands assumed the post on February 11, 2002. Mr. Alfred has had a career in banking, tax and auditing. He worked with Pannel Kerr Foster before joining the Inland Revenue Department where he spent 10 years including 3 years as Assistant Comptroller. In 1998 he joined an international bank in St. Lucia and went on to work in the Barbados head office, specializing in credit risk management. In 2001 Mr. Alfred was transferred the Cayman Islands Head Office from where he was recruited to the post of Director. Mr. Alfred has a Bachelor's degree in Management from the University of the West Indies and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) elective in Business Finance from Brunel University in London.

St. Lucia not listed as uncooperative tax haven by the OECD: St. Lucia was removed from the list of uncooperative tax havens by the OECD after discussions held in St. Lucia in February 2002. The OECD found that St. Lucia largely satisfied the elements sought by the OECD project. St. Lucia came off the list with a published statement and a jointly agreed press release that does not appear to be a commitment of the type the OECD is seeking from other jurisdictions. This it is felt resulted from the OECD's recognition of St. Lucia's existing commitment to the OECD key principles. Please click here to view press statement.

Official launch of St. Lucia's STEP branch: On January 21, 2002, St. Lucia officially launched its branch of the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners (STEP). The launch of the branch was presided over by Chris McKenzie, Chairman of the BVI Branch and a Member of the STEP Council. The executive of the branch is as follows: Nicholas John President, Michael Gordon Vice President, Brenda Boland Treasurer, and Natalie Augustin Secretary. In his welcoming address the President noted; "The establishment of a branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners in St. Lucia is the achievement of yet another milestone in our quest to make St. Lucia's international financial services product one that is second to none."

Publications:

• The February issue of Offshore Investment magazine February 2002 featured the following articles on St. Lucia:

- The merits of a flexible approach - a review of the legislative infrastructure in St. Lucia by Nicholas John LLB, TEP, Managing Director, Hewanorra Fiduciary Services Group, Castries, St. Lucia

- Trusts in St. Lucia - The best of both worlds? a look at the dual statutory and common law trust systems in St. Lucia and proposed amendments by James A. F. Wadham, The Fiduciary and Consulting Group, Hong Kong, China

- A time to refine - a detailed look at some proposed refinements to some of the offshore laws and the rationale behind them, by Anthony Bristol, Deputy Managing Director, Financial Centre Corporation, Castries, St. Lucia

• The Captive Review magazine will run a feature on St. Lucia in the April 2002 edition.

  
  

Events:

St. Lucia will for the first time be an exhibitor at the RIMS insurance conference in New Orleans. This it is felt will give the rapidly developing Captive and Reinsurance business in St. Lucia good exposure for further growth. For further details visit www.rims.org

If you have any questions, comments or if you do not wish to be on our mailing list, please feel free to send them to enquiries@pinnaclestlucia.com

Please click here if you want to download the PDF version of the newsletter