Anguilla’s leader, Premier Victor Banks, has launched the second phase of the island’s Residence by Investment (RBI) programme in Geneva, Switzerland, in an effort to attract wealthy persons to invest and live in Anguilla as a means of promoting economic development.
Mr. Banks is accompanied by Mr. Larry Franklin, Permanent Secretary for Economic Development. Both of them are among various officials from the Caribbean and other countries at an Investment Migration Forum.
Following is the text of the address delivered by Premier Banks on Wednesday, June 5, 2019:
I am pleased to be here in Geneva at this important Investment Migration Forum to introduce my own country Anguilla to participants in this industry. The last time I was in Geneva, more than twenty years ago, I was promoting our Financial Services Industry, in my capacity as Minister of Finance. The theme of my presentation as we launched into the rebranding of that industry, was: “Red Carpet not Red Tape”.
As an emerging Financial Centre then, Anguilla had two primary objectives, namely, to attract reputable business and to provide efficient and quality service. It has always been our view in Anguilla that genuine investors and practitioners welcome an appropriate level of scrutiny — if it would mean that they are located in a jurisdiction that attracts only the most reputable clientele.
All our efforts therefore have been focused on creating that delicate balance between efficient service and proper regulation. This we consider to be a desirable outcome of “red carpet service as opposed to unnecessary red tape”.
But even before Anguilla considered Financial Services as a vehicle for economic development — twenty years earlier we had begun our foray into the tourist industry adopting “low volume — high value” as the strategy. Thus also focusing on quality as opposed to quantity. This strategy takes into account our small population; our fragile — yet stunningly beautiful tourism resources; our concern for sustainability; and our national instinct to deliver top-level services to our clients.
Nothing much has changed over that span of more than forty years, as far as efforts to explore ways and means to provide for our people are concerned. This is, of course, a challenging undertaking for small-island developing states with high levels of vulnerability to external shocks — both human and natural.
In fact, in the case of climate change, there is a coincidence between the human and the natural causalities that compounds our inability to respond effectively to such threats to our survival. As in the past we are therefore forced to live by our wits — and to become more and more innovative in our development strategy.
In the tourism sector Anguilla boasts of some of the best beaches in the world. In the financial sector our objective is to create an upscale image in the delivery and regulation of services. The message being that Anguilla is not a jurisdiction that is seeking to attract all comers. In fact, both the Government and the private sector fully endorse this careful approach as the best way forward. And that is why our mantra, as we now make our entrance into the migration industry, is: “Reclusively Exclusive”. The Residence by Investment (RBI) programme can therefore effectively blend our tourism assets and our financial services offerings into a very attractive product for this industry. In the language of our SelectAnguilla.com website: “Luxurious Living meets Financial Freedom!”
Over the intervening years since Anguilla began building a stronger economy, a number of realities have become our lot, (as is the case of most of the islands in our region) including, an increasing assault on our financial services industry by costly requirements to meet global standards of compliance and regulation; the impact of natural disasters on our infrastructure and tourism resources; and the burden of borrowing to meet sustainable development goals.
Of these, I believe that the best case for highlighting the value of the migration industry to our region is that it is a good way to meet the cost of our sustainable development goals (SDG’s). Working to achieve SDG’s has been highly advanced by the developed countries of the world as the pathway to global stability and world peace. In fact, in 2015 all UN Member States adopted this strategy as “a shared blue print for peace and prosperity for people and the planet.”
The UN member states all endorsed the strategy for achieving these goals through a global partnership between developed and developing nations. And declared that such a partnership must recognize that ending poverty and other forms of human deprivations requires programmes that “improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth.” They must also involve dealing with the threats and impacts of climate change as well as the preservation of our oceans and forests. This is a very serious and expensive undertaking.
In this context, what better way can there be to effect the funding of these lofty goals than through the medium of a global migration programme. That is, a programme that leverages the attractive opportunity to become a resident or citizen of a developing (or even a developed country) by investing in its future stability and prosperity.
May I coin two terms? “Global Income Distribution” and “Global Solidarity”. Indeed the worldwide reduction of poverty or the stability of the developing world can be a mutually beneficial enterprise to both developed and the developing countries. The usual alternatives are burdensome loans that may effect a reversal of progress on achieving SDG’s — or so-called grants that often include humiliating and demeaning preconditions. The Investment Migration Industry has been providing a viable solution to this cause.
As usual Anguilla has approached our RBI programme with caution. Just like we did in the case of our Tourism and Financial Services sectors, our desire is to offer a quality service that is well managed and efficient. Your clients will be therefore doing business in a well-regulated jurisdiction ideal for wealth preservation; benefiting from tax rates that are among the lowest in the world, and; keeping connected to the world and their families through a modern communication network.
They will at the same time be enjoying a lifestyle of seclusion; serenity; and safety on an unspoiled Caribbean gem, dubbed: “tranquility wrapped in blue”. We consider this a very competitive offer indeed. It includes tax benefits; residency for the whole family; and a clearly defined path to British Citizenship.
So Anguilla’s decision to become involved in the Investment Migration Industry has been encouraged not only by the opportunities but also the commendable efforts of a number of established jurisdictions in our region and elsewhere to fend off the negative stigma associated with the management of the sector from the developed world and developed world agencies/organizations. In this sense we strongly embrace concepts like best practices; robust due diligence; the urgency of effective and efficient regulation; a uniform transnational code of ethics; transparency in taxation policy issues; competency training and certification of key personnel; use of technology; integrity; playing by the rules; understanding the market/industry; building a dynamic migration programme; and so on. The list is not exhaustive but the desired outcome is to meet the same high standards we have set in other key service sectors of our economy.
As a jurisdiction we did not have the capacity to conduct a comprehensive feasibility analysis of our offering in the investment migration market — or design and promote an effective programme. In the circumstances, we therefore carefully selected and engaged a well-experienced consultancy firm that has brought us to this point and are delivering positive and encouraging results. We are proud to express our satisfaction with Latitude Consultancy Limited that has been our fearless leader in this enterprise.
We invite you to visit our website at SelectAnguilla.com, where you can get much more details of what we have in store for your clients. It is important to mention that in embarking on this investment migration programme our first order of business was to show appreciation for individuals who have maintained considerable real estate investments in our island over the years. We put them on a fast track programme that enabled them to obtain economic residency on the basis of their previous investments at a concessionary price and more than six months in advance of this forum. This is how strongly we feel about investors who are in our country — as well as those who we expect to take advantage of our programme after this introduction.
Finally, let me thank the organizers of the forum for the excellent arrangements they have made to create such a brilliant platform for sharing and networking with participants from all over the globe. We have indeed benefitted from many informative and enlightening presentations that will help to enhance our knowledge and understanding of the industry — as well as its better management in/for the future.
I thank you all for your kind attention.
