The Dominican Republic is to be transformed into a fully regulated offshore centre, with the US Congress looking into legislative standards ...

The Dominican Republic is to be transformed into a fully regulated offshore centre, with the US Congress looking into legislative standards for bond trading and banking by 2009. The necessary regulatory regime will compliment developments for a site in the South East of the island, according to reports in the LA Times. Legislation to establish a regulatory regime for a centre based at a customised site in the southeast of the country is expected to go to Congress shortly. Latin American bond trading has boomed in recent years after the restoration of stability in Mexico, Brazil and the rest of the region. Trades in Latin American debt instruments amounted to $2.9 trillion in 2004. The clearing facility, to be called "Laifex", would be the hub of a broader financial services complex to be known as the Independent Financial Center of the Americas. Eventually an array of financial services would develop at the site, including private banks, according to the report. The Dominican Republic's domestic financial system will receive thorough vetting from the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body formed to combat money laundering. The aim is to provide real-time transaction monitoring – something anti-money laundering regulators the world over aspire to. Proposals are being drawn up by Patton Boggs, a Washington law firm, and Deloitte Consulting in London.