Regulators and industry leaders are working together to achieve the ambitious goal of boosting the importance of financial services to the economy, both locally and globally.

Managing perceptions

Offshore banking isn’t about tax evasion, it’s about tax avoidance – an important distinction says Sherin Renaud, CEO of the Seychelles Investment Bureau. She explains that people confuse secrecy with confidentiality, but there are many reasons why people would want to use an offshore centre for confidential transactions. Seychelles is not averse to any exchange of information as long as it comes with strict conditions, she adds.

Local competition

The “big boys” in the banking sector are worried about the rapid rise of Seychelles Savings Bank, says Michael Benstrong, CEO. It has partnerships in the UK and Europe with major tier one banks and has accounts in major financial centres across the US, Europe and Asia. The bank has spent five years building a model geared towards emerging markets in Asia and Africa and Islamic finance is also a strategic focus.

Local market

Foreign interest is increasing, but is targeted at overseas clients with overseas operations. Kenny Roberts and Alexander Pierre, fund managers at Delta Asset Management, want to offer something to local investors and are themselves major investors in the Delta fund. They explain that local businesses earn some 3% annually by putting their money in banks but after three months of trading, the fund was about profit.

International competition

The markets to capture, says Steve Fanny, CEO at SIBA, are the UK, Asia and Africa. The American market is mostly locked up in the Caribbean and is in the wrong time zone while Europe continues to struggle with a liquidity crunch. So SIBA has been building a model geared towards emerging markets in Asia and Africa. And with Islamic Finance growing fast, the island’s proximity to the Middle East gives it an advantage, he adds.