Despite more than three thousand miles distance, Brazil and the Bahamas are getting closer than ever. With a population of around 200 million and an economic growth rate of more than 7 per cent, Brazil is a potentially enormous market for The Bahamas, and the Caribbean country is ready to admit it. Ideally located to serve Brazilian High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs), the jurisdiction has concentrated its efforts in recent years on promoting its offerings in offshore financial services to the Latin American giant. The Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) has been promoting the archipelago and expanding upon investment opportunities between the two nations.
Since the 2012 World Wealth Report found that Brazil is on top of the 12 countries with the largest net worth individual markets, defined as persons with more than $1 million in disposable income, the world does a double take at the country, which saw the greatest percentage rise (6.2 per cent) in the number of HNWIs (high net worth individuals). According to the World Economic Forum, the country is expected to become the world's fifth largest economy by 2020. Its gross domestic product (GPD) grew 7.5 per cent in 2010 and 6.2 per cent in 2011.
The Bahamas Financial Services Board identifies Brazil as a huge potential market for high net worth individuals in many ways. Besides a top performer in manufacturing and non-financial services products, the abundance of raw materials, stable banking sector and growing middle class, the organization idealizes the coming of the rich brazilians for second homes or vacation ventures to the Bahamas.
According to the BFSB's immediate past chairman Craig A. Gomez in The Tribune interview, "as a jurisdiction, we have to develop a marketing team to visit these areas, convene with them and attract them to do business in the Bahamas, not only financial services but any other type of industrial sector we want to develop". Mr. Gomez also urges to find a model to overcome the "high cost of doing business" in the Bahamas and get the local people employed.
Since the 2012 World Wealth Report found that Brazil is on top of the 12 countries with the largest net worth individual markets, defined as persons with more than $1 million in disposable income, the world does a double take at the country, which saw the greatest percentage rise (6.2 per cent) in the number of HNWIs (high net worth individuals). According to the World Economic Forum, the country is expected to become the world's fifth largest economy by 2020. Its gross domestic product (GPD) grew 7.5 per cent in 2010 and 6.2 per cent in 2011.
The Bahamas Financial Services Board identifies Brazil as a huge potential market for high net worth individuals in many ways. Besides a top performer in manufacturing and non-financial services products, the abundance of raw materials, stable banking sector and growing middle class, the organization idealizes the coming of the rich brazilians for second homes or vacation ventures to the Bahamas.
According to the BFSB's immediate past chairman Craig A. Gomez in The Tribune interview, "as a jurisdiction, we have to develop a marketing team to visit these areas, convene with them and attract them to do business in the Bahamas, not only financial services but any other type of industrial sector we want to develop". Mr. Gomez also urges to find a model to overcome the "high cost of doing business" in the Bahamas and get the local people employed.
