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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2023
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BOB rejects $33m ArawakX demand By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE SECURITIES Commission was yesterday accused of “callous disregard” for ArawakX’s interests by allegedly interfering with its demand for a $33m settlement from Bank of The Bahamas. D’Arcy Rahming junior, a director of The Bahamas’ first-ever crowd-funding platform, also claimed that the BISX-listed bank had given a “false and misleading narrative” by denying it was in settlement discussions with ArawakX over the six-month freezing of the latter’s bank accounts. The claims, contained in a November 8 affidavit, emerged just one day before Chief Justice Ian Winder is due to rule on the Securities Commission’s
t $SPXE GVOE QMBUGPSN CMBTUT SFHVMBUPS T ADBMMPVT EJTSFHBSE t 4BZT $PNNJTTJPO NPWFTùBLJO UP AEJNF TUPSF /BODZ %SFX t "MMFHFT #*49 MJTUFE CBOL T TFUUMFNFOU UBMLT EFOJBM AGBMTF D’ARCY RAHMING JNR bid for the Supreme Court to appoint a provisional liquidator to take control of ArawakX as a first step towards winding-up the crowd-funding platform. Mr Rahming’s evidence is another, albeit late, step to rebut the capital markets regulator’s case. Asserting that it was “axiomatic”, or unquestionable, that Bank of The Bahamas “will
have to answer for the harm caused” in freezing ArawakX’s bank accounts, he argued it had “cynically” denied to the Securities Commission that the two parties were in settlement talks knowing this would strengthen the regulator’s case for the winding-up. The Supreme Court’s appointment of a provisional liquidator, Mr
Rahming added, would benefit Bank of The Bahamas because there was no guarantee that the crowdfunding platform’s legal claim against it would survive. However, Christina Rolle, the Securities Commission’s executive director, has previously reassured that a provisional liquidator would
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BPL readies late fee to cut $100m debts By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Power & Light (BPL) has received approval to impose a $5 monthly fee on the 80 percent of customers who pay their bill late as it bids to slash its $100m accounts receivables. Shevonn Cambridge, its chief executive, yesterday told the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) annual accountants’ weeks seminar that it has received regulatory go-ahead to implement the levy given that more than
SHEVONN CAMBRIDGE four out of every five customers pay their monthly bills after the due date. With the cash-strapped state-owned utility’s accounts receivables, representing monies owed by residential and business
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Bahamas natural resources in $150m yearly protection By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE BAHAMAS requires “in excess of $150m” annually to protect its critical natural resources, it was disclosed yesterday, amid efforts to raise just one-fifth of this sum to fund ongoing conservation projects. The Bahamas Protected Areas Fund (BPAF), which was established in 2014 as a legal body to manage and oversee 121 marine and land-based protected areas, gave an insight into the scale of the financing necessary to strengthen this country and its environment against the ever-growing threat of climate change.
Launching its ‘Protecting the Gold of our natural resources’ campaign, which seeks to raise $30m over the next five years to help finance conservation partners, education and research institutions, the Fund’s senior executives acknowledged that the Government “cannot cover the cost of climate change alone”. Glenn Bannister, chairman of The Bahamas Protected Areas Fund, said: “Studies have shown that it requires in excess of $150m annually to effectively manage the Bahamas National Protected Area System.
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BAHAMASAIR BOEING 737
Bahamasair in pilot retirement age rise over shortage fear By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMASAIR is seeking to raise its pilot retirement age to 65 amid fears it faces an imminent shortage of experienced captains with eight passing through the ‘departure gate’ since 2022. The national flag carrier now wants to lift its longstanding mandatory pilot retirement age of 60 by five years so that it can return this expertise and ensure a smoother succession, with a further three captains set to hit that threshold and leave the airline during the 2024 first half.
However, increasing the retirement age is inextricably bound-up with industrial agreement negotiations with the Bahamas Airline Pilots Association, which have yet to be concluded. The loss of up to 11 captains, which sources said amounts to the departure of around 30 percent of Bahamasair’s most experienced pilots in two-and-half years, is also coinciding with the expansion of the airline’s fleets and routes. Another Boeing 737 jet is scheduled to join before 2023 year-end, and a 72-seat ATR turbo prop set to be added in time for summer 2024. Bahamasair
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