BAHAMAS Trends and Developments Contributed by: Sean Moree KC and Erin Hill, McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes
framework, while continuing to strengthen its AML/ CFT regime. Recent reforms to beneficial ownership legislation and related regulatory requirements rein - force the importance of accurate and up-to-date infor - mation concerning the individuals who ultimately own or control Bahamian legal entities and arrangements. The Bahamas maintains a secure beneficial ownership system rather than a general public beneficial owner - ship register, thereby seeking to balance international transparency requirements with legitimate privacy considerations. The continuing evolution of these requirements means that clients establishing trusts, foundations, companies and other structures should expect appropriate disclosure and due diligence obli - gations, and should ensure that structures are estab - lished and maintained with accurate beneficial owner - ship and tax residency information. This is particularly important in light of The Bahamas’ ongoing engage - ment with international standard-setting bodies and its preparation for its fifth-round Caribbean Financial Action Task Force mutual evaluation in 2026. As international transparency standards have devel - oped, the focus of private client planning in The Baha - mas has increasingly shifted away from simply estab - lishing structures and towards ensuring that those structures are properly governed and administered. Trustees, protectors, directors and other fiduciaries are expected to understand their roles and maintain appropriate records, while regulated service providers must satisfy enhanced customer due diligence and beneficial ownership requirements. For clients, this means that the quality of governance and administra - tion is becoming an increasingly important considera - tion when selecting trustees, registered representa - tives, family office providers and other professional advisers. The trend also reinforces the importance of reviewing existing structures periodically to ensure that their governance arrangements remain appropri - ate as families grow, beneficiaries change residence and wealth becomes more geographically dispersed. Incapacity and Continuity Planning There is also a growing focus on planning for inca - pacity and the continuity of family wealth structures, rather than concentrating solely on succession fol - lowing death. This is particularly relevant for ageing founders and settlors who have retained powers
under trusts or continue to control family investment companies. The interaction between enduring powers of attorney, reserved powers under trusts, protector arrangements and trustee succession provisions is becoming increasingly important. The 2025 amend - ments to the Trustee Act, including the recognition of “power holders”, provide a useful framework for con - sidering who should exercise relevant powers where a settlor or other power holder becomes incapacitated. For private clients, this highlights the importance of ensuring that estate planning documents, trust instru - ments, corporate documents and powers of attorney operate coherently and do not leave gaps in the man - agement of family wealth during periods of incapacity. Planning Across Multiple Jurisdictions The Bahamas continues to see demand from families whose members, businesses and assets span multi - ple jurisdictions. This has increased the importance of structuring arrangements that are robust not only under Bahamian law but also under the tax, succes - sion and reporting rules of the jurisdictions in which family members are resident or domiciled. The Baha - mas’ combination of trusts, foundations, executive entities, private trust companies and, more recently, usufruct arrangements gives advisers a broader range of tools with which to address different family circum - stances. At the same time, the increasing use of CRS, FATCA and other international information-sharing mechanisms means that the focus is increasingly on legitimate tax-efficient structuring and succession planning rather than confidentiality for its own sake. Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges Act 2024 The development of the Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges Act 2024 (DARE Act) has also added a new dimension to private client planning. As digital assets become increasingly relevant to high net worth individuals and family offices, advisers must consider how such assets are held, transferred and adminis - tered in the event of death or incapacity. This includes ensuring that digital assets are properly identified and documented, that fiduciaries have appropriate author - ity to access and administer them, and that succes - sion arrangements are compatible with the relevant regulatory and reporting requirements. The growing presence of digital assets also reinforces the need for private client advisers to consider the interaction
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