The Securities Commission of The Bahamas published its 2025 sectoral assessment of money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risk, assigning the securities sector a medium-high overall rating and a vulnerability score of 0.74. Inherent vulnerability was 0.91, driven by the sector’s scale, predominantly international client base, remote onboarding and concentration among a small number of large firms, but was moderated by the anti-money laundering control framework. The 202 licensees covered by the assessment held about $256.6 billion in client assets and administered $45.6 billion in investment fund net asset value across roughly 850,000 client relationships. Foreign residents represented 86% of clients and held 87% of client assets. Inherent money laundering exposure remains high, while measured exposure to terrorist financing relevant jurisdictions was minimal and proliferation financing exposure was assessed as low. Mitigating factors include cash-light activity through regulated intermediaries, sanctions screening at 99% of firms and a reported beneficial ownership verification backlog of 77 relationships. Supervision will focus on testing firms’ self-reported control effectiveness, suspicious transaction reporting and overdue client reviews. Firms are expected to maintain board-approved risk assessments covering all three risk areas, complete beneficial ownership verification before establishing relationships, calibrate monitoring to cross-border risks, explain potentially anomalous nil suspicious transaction reporting and conduct continuous sanctions screening.

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