TCI News
TCI: Savory favors investor residency status, heralds KPMG economic report, says Caicos link is economic lifeline
#Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Monday May 21, 2018 – A report by #KPMG is expected to expose exactly what the Turks and Caicos needs to hear about its economy and its economic potential in the Financial Services thanks to a state of the industry assessment which will be completed in a matter of weeks.
The subject and advent of the economic report was touted in the third annual #BordierBank(TCI) Investment Conference held May 16-18 2018 at Beaches Resort Villages and Spa in Providenciales. 
Peter Savory, director of Chartered Trust and Savory & Associates, both in the Turks and Caicos Islands, was among the opening ceremony speakers and said the Turks and Caicos is certainly in a period of transition.
Mr. Savory cited the shift in the financial services is evidenced in, among other things, the arduous re-registering of every company in the islands in time for an October deadline due to new requirements of a re-booted Companies Ordinance; updated for the first time in 37 years, he said.
But Mr. Savory, in his remarks, largely focused on how to make investing more attractive to multi-millionaires who are dawdling on the fence, instead of taking the plunge.
“…what I think it is going to contain, and if I am right, it is going to say that TCI has very good potential in the area of private trust companies and there is a very interesting aspect I suppose or feature in there for Trusts to own company shares that I think will have good potential…” Savory whose LinkedIn profile says he is a financial graduate of the University of Auckland added, I believe we have a great future in attracting high net worth individuals here in the Turks and Caicos Islands.” 
Peter Savory believes the Turks and Caicos would be on the winning side if it were to establish a quota of how many investors could attain legal residency, which would or could be tied to the type and value of investment these qualifiers would be prepared to make.
“I have been told that the Cayman Islands has a quota for residency certificates that they have never met. Now is it because there is more due diligence, that it is extremely robust or is it that they have just not been successful enough in marketing their residency program. Whatever the reason, there are great parallels to draw with places like the Cayman Islands…”
Savory said while he is not suggesting citizenship for the wealthy investors, he believes it may help the sector if there was more structure and a plan to sweeten the pot for inward investment to bolster the country’s number two industry.
I think our future lies in trying to attract people where they have the capacity to invest good amounts of money…” Peter Savory explained that he is already having referrals of people who are in the Turks and Caicos, average people who have been extremely successful and who are willing to pump millions into the economy via the financial services if they were given some sort of investor status; he continued, “and it is certainly something that I am actively lobbying the government on.”
Mr. Savory talked about alternative investment and touted an infrastructural addition to link the Caicos Islands.
“Imagine a road bridge, a bridge connecting the island of Providenciales and #NorthCaicos and how that might change the economic face of the Turks and Caicos Islands if we were to open up North Caicos and #MiddleCaicos, which are joined by causeway an are potentially three times the size of Providenciales; Providenciales itself being twice the land there in Bermuda. Bermuda having a population of 60,000 people.”
Mr. Savory sees a bounty of potential in this infrastructural enhancement, which as been touted for decades but remains undone; an economic and development dream unrealized.
“And it could be made to tie in quite nicely with an investment product and with other things such as a permanent residency program to make it a viable alternative.” 
Kenrick Walters, Chief Risk Officer at Bordier Bank TCI, who has seen a draft of the document said of the KPMG report that, “I can’t get ahead of the Premier (who is also finance Minister) in saying what is in that report, but I can tell you that it addresses some of the major concerns that we have faced in the industry for a long time. Immigration, business licenses, business processes in general; things like dispute resolutions at the courts, all of these issues and all of these areas will be addressed and the Premier has committed to looking at the industry from a holistic standpoint and working with the private sector, with regulators and so on to really change the game.”
The KPMG survey team arrives in the country this week.
#TurksandCaicos, September 29, 2023 – The Integrity Commission advises that the Register of Interests for Members of the Turks and Caicos Islands House of Assembly, as at 31st December 2022 has been completed.
Members of the House of Assembly are required by the Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution, Section 103(2), and the Integrity Commission Ordinance (the Ordinance), as amended, Section 52(1), to file with the Commission, Statements of Registrable Interests. The Commission would, therefore, like to inform members of the public that, it
has compiled the information contained in these Statements of Registrable Interests and has produced The Register of Interests 2022 for the Members of the House of Assembly, as at 31st December 2022.
The Register of Interests 2022 is now available for public inspection at the following locations:
- House of Assembly in Grand Turk
- Office of the Premier – Grand Turk and Providenciales
- Office of the Integrity Commission – Grand Turk and Providenciales (during the hours of 8:30am to 4:30pm from Mondays to Thursdays and 8:00am to 4:00pm on Fridays.)
- Office of the District Commissioner – Middle Caicos, North Caicos, Salt Cay and South Caicos.
The Register can be viewed at these locations during normal working hours or at a time that is convenient for the respective offices.
For further information or any assistance please contact the Integrity Commission:
By telephone at: 946-1941(Grand Turk Office) or 941-7847 (Providenciales Office) By e-mail at: secretary@integritycommission.tc or info@integritycommission.tc
Dana Malcolm and Wilkie Arthur
Editorial Staff
#TurksandCaicos, September 29, 2023 – Concerning reports are coming out of Providenciales regarding the placement of students as the new term got started.
Wilkie Arthur, Magnetic Media Court Correspondent, had the opportunity to speak with several young people who were supposed to be in school. Instead, they were hanging out close to home, as they said they couldn’t afford the fees of the private schools they had been placed in.
Edgar Howell, Director of Education, during an August 31st press conference, had indicated that at least 26 students were awaiting assistance with placement in private high schools and 35 students were awaiting placements in primary schools. Parents should have heard from the ministry within days.
Arthur fielded concerns from them and their families who wished to remain anonymous.
“The schools are full and they don’t have any more money to continue the [private] schools they were going to. So, this bright September morning these children are actually just idle,” he explained.
By law (Education Ordinance 2009), all children between four and 16 years old in the Turks and Caicos Islands are considered of ‘Compulsory School Age’ meaning, they must be enrolled in an institution.
It has long been the practice of the Ministry of Education to place students in private schools and subsidize the fees when space has run out in public schools. This year was no different.
“The Ministry continues to provide assistance to the parents through the private school subsidy program and 375 students are being assisted for the 2023/24 school year,” Howell explained.
It’s not clear if these students were a part of that number.
We have since reached out to representatives at the Turks and Caicos Ministry of Education for information on students who are not in school, how many remain unable to fit into public school classes and what provisions are in place for those students; there has been no update.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, September 29, 2023 – Upgrades are underway at the JAGS McCartney International Airport but Grand Turk Residents say they were subject to subpar conditions for far too long; the comments came at a town hall meeting hosted by the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority in the capital on Thursday September 21, at Dillon Hall.
“I am speaking on behalf of Grand Turk residents. It is unacceptable for the Airports Authority to treat residents how they do,” one resident told TCIAA executives at a town hall meeting in Grand Turk.
The airport was hit during Hurricane Fiona in late 2022, resulting in a destroyed roof and serious damage to the
terminals from extensive flooding plus damage to the domestic and international arrival areas, deeming the area unfit for use.
The hurricane damage last year only exacerbated the destruction wrought by previous storms including 2008’s Hurricane Ike and 2017’s Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
The JAGS McCartney International was reopened for domestic arrivals just this past June after phase one of a restoration project. The international terminal was scheduled to open soon after but repairs are still ongoing. Residents told TCIAA executives, the work was simply not executed quickly enough.
“The lack of attention that they paid to the JAGS McCartney Airport after the hurricane, having the residents of this island come in like we’re from a third world country for months? It’s unacceptable for residents of this island for you all to leave us like that,” a resident maintained.
Ongoing updates include fixing the perimeter fence and parking lot as well as the fire station. Residents appeared grateful but cautiously optimistic.
“We see the plans that you have— which is good, and we hope that the next time we have a disaster we don’t have to be waiting for months [and] be treated like that.”
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