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Life in Antigua Barbuda

The best guide book to see what is happening in Antigua in order to plan your vacation and a brilliant keepsake in hard copy to put on your coffee table to memorialize your holiday.

The best guide book to see what is happening in Antigua in order to plan your vacation and a brilliant keepsake in hard copy to put on your coffee table to memorialize your holiday.

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The government is also committed to operate as an<br />

e-government and has positioned <strong>Antigua</strong> to become<br />

a lead<strong>in</strong>g Caribbean IT centre. <strong>Antigua</strong> is host to a<br />

fully certified PCI DSS card processor, Global Process<strong>in</strong>g<br />

Centre (www.gpcantigua.com), which operates<br />

a modern and <strong>in</strong>tegrated process<strong>in</strong>g platform for<br />

all card, electronic wallet, mobile wallet, private label<br />

cards, and ecommerce services. It provides process<strong>in</strong>g<br />

services to banks <strong>in</strong> several Caribbean territories.<br />

Importantly, the processor has also driven the <strong>in</strong>novation<br />

of an alternative payment service known as<br />

SugaPay that comb<strong>in</strong>es the convenience of a local<br />

payment card and mobile transactions which will significantly<br />

reduce the number of daily cash transactions.<br />

These technology driven f<strong>in</strong>ancial services will<br />

enhance retail and onl<strong>in</strong>e payments for the government<br />

and bus<strong>in</strong>ess sectors, as well as assist <strong>in</strong>ternational<br />

remittances.<br />

In today’s global village, geographic focus is less relevant<br />

to clients with an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly <strong>in</strong>ternational perspective,<br />

and the use of modern technology will deliver<br />

a consistently high standard of service for customers to<br />

conduct secure bank<strong>in</strong>g bus<strong>in</strong>ess regardless of the proximity<br />

of the bank offices.<br />

Wealth Management and<br />

Your Home Away from Home<br />

<strong>Antigua</strong> is <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly attractive to <strong>in</strong>ternational <strong>in</strong>vestors<br />

from Lat<strong>in</strong> America, Europe and the Far East seek<strong>in</strong>g<br />

private bank<strong>in</strong>g services and wish<strong>in</strong>g to balance their<br />

portfolios with commodity and foreign exchange trad<strong>in</strong>g<br />

services, and who may also be <strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> real estate<br />

<strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> the jurisdiction.<br />

There are a number of residential developments tak<strong>in</strong>g<br />

place <strong>in</strong> <strong>Antigua</strong> & <strong>Barbuda</strong> which would be considered<br />

attractive as vacation and second homes. These <strong>in</strong>vestments<br />

may also qualify them for Permanent Residency.<br />

The recent <strong>in</strong>troduction of new legislation now also allows<br />

approved <strong>in</strong>vestors to take part <strong>in</strong> the Citizenship<br />

by Investment Programme (CIP). This provides for citizenship<br />

and an <strong>Antigua</strong> and <strong>Barbuda</strong> passport to be<br />

granted on the basis of approved persons and families<br />

who satisfy a high standard of due diligence requirements<br />

and qualify <strong>in</strong> respect of mak<strong>in</strong>g personal <strong>in</strong>vestments<br />

<strong>in</strong> <strong>Antigua</strong> and <strong>Barbuda</strong>. The jurisdiction has<br />

spent considerable time and research efforts to design<br />

an <strong>in</strong>vestment process that could safely award a qualified<br />

applicant with a valued citizenship and passport.<br />

Such programmes already exist <strong>in</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong>, Canada and<br />

68

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