Welcome to The Bay Street Brief!

Quiet week last week, so no running on from me today. Hope all the dads had a great Father's Day yesterday.

Pardon I for being late, but this is a Bahamian newsletter…

Let's get into it.

The Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2026, tabled alongside this year's budget, proposes three significant changes to how vehicles are licensed, registered, and imported in The Bahamas. Fees are going up for most drivers, a late renewal penalty is coming, and every imported vehicle will now need a certificate of title before it clears Customs.

Here's what that means for you.

On fees, the current three-class system expands to four. Most people's costs go up. The one exception: fully electric vehicles drop to a flat $125. The new structure looks like this:

Not sure where your car lands? Your vehicle's curb weight is usually on the sticker inside the driver's door.

That $35 inspection fee also becomes non-refundable. Pass or fail, you're paying it.

On late renewals, let your license and registration lapse and you'll owe a penalty equal to your full annual registration fee on top of the renewal cost. The only way out: a certified mechanic confirms the vehicle was unfit for the road during that period, or you have another reasonable cause for keeping it off it.

The biggest change is the certificate of title.

No vehicle can be cleared from Customs without one. Once you own a vehicle, you'll also need a motor vehicle title clearance certificate before you can transfer it to anyone else.

Transport Minister Leon Lundy called it a long-overdue cleanup of a system running on "handshakes and honour." His pitch: "No more shadow transfers, no more untaxed, uninsured vehicles changing hands in the dark. The certificate of title brings every vehicle into the light."

In principle, he's not wrong. Wrecked vehicles being rebuilt and sold to unsuspecting buyers is a real problem. A permanent ownership record, tracked from the moment a car enters the country, is a reasonable fix.

Here's the thing… the dealers weren't consulted. The Bahamas Motor Dealers Association only found out about the title certificate requirement when The Tribune called them. Fred Albury of the Auto Mall put it plainly: the government risks "creating more and more bureaucracy and avenues to collect money" if the implementation isn't thought through. Who issues certificates at the port? How are bulk dealer shipments handled? Does Road Traffic have inspection facilities at the Nassau Container Port? The Bill doesn't answer any of that.

The bottom line: The certificate of title is the right idea. The secondary vehicle market has needed a cleanup for years. But good policy announced without industry consultation, and without implementation details, tends to become expensive chaos at the dock. Storage fees at the port add up fast.

I must admit you all are doing much better than I expected with these quizzes.

The team and I are brainstorming ways to reward those of you who take the time to solve these, and maybe make it more interesting for those who don’t. Feel free to shoot over your ideas!

Once again, ya wybe mash:

An Exuma tour company charges a fixed booking fee of $270 plus $85 per passenger for a private island-hopping excursion. A competing company charges $130 per passenger with no booking fee.

How many passengers are needed for both companies to charge the same total price?

Check the bottom of the newsletter for the answer.

🏦 Bank of The Bahamas is having a moment. Not a good one. The bank's new Oracle core banking system upgrade went sideways, leaving customers locked out of online accounts and facing delays on transfers and card payments. The bank has apologized and says Oracle technicians are actively working to fix it. No timeline given.

⚓ Grand Bahama Shipyard had a record repair season. The shipyard completed work on 28 vessels during the November-to-May cruise repair season, its busiest in recent years thanks to a new dry dock. Bahamian hires grew 24% and use of local subcontractors jumped 65%. The $600 million expansion to become the world's largest cruise ship repair facility continues.

💰 The Development Bank has $22 million ready to lend. The Bahamas Development Bank is actively seeking projects to finance, with a special pitch for Andros-related investment. Deputy MD Sumayyah Cargill told the Andros Business Outlook conference the island is a "place of assets, not just potential." Family Island entrepreneurs, consider this your heads-up.

📺 Cable Bahamas is buying back its own shares. Again. The company extended its share repurchase program through June 2027, having already bought back over 262,000 shares worth roughly $946k last year. Combined with resumed quarterly dividends, it's a signal that the Aliv rollout costs are behind them and the balance sheet is looking healthier.

🏛️ The National Investment Fund is turning into a Parliamentary headache. Finance Minister Halkitis and Opposition Leader Pintard clashed in the House over whether the government actually has legal authority to transfer public funds into the NIF. A board has still not been named. Pintard's line: "They could just put it in anybody's account." Halkitis says everything is above board.

🇬🇧 The UK has officially lost another prime minister. Keir Starmer resigned Monday after his own party decided it was time for someone else to have a go. Andy Burnham is now the favourite to take over. Trump, naturally, weighed in before everyone else.

🍎 Your next iPhone is getting more expensive. Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed price increases are coming due to a global memory chip shortage. No numbers yet, but the direction is clear.

🍦 Ice cream giants caught fixing prices in Japan. Several of Japan's largest ice cream companies are under antitrust investigation for suspected cartel pricing. The affected brands include some of the country's most recognizable names. Investigators are not playing.

👓 Snap launched $2,195 AR glasses. SPECS overlay apps directly into your field of vision. They cost more than a round-trip to Miami and reportedly look like something Vin Diesel wore in a 2004 movie. Evan Spiegel says the smartphone era is ending. We'll see.

Travelled thousands of miles. Cleared multiple airports. Made it all the way to Nassau. Still couldn't get in.

The Bay Street Brief, on the other hand, is already in your inbox. And unlike Ebola, we encourage you to spread this thing around. Forward it. Share it. Send it to the group chat. The more people that catch it, the better.

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6 passengers.

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Until next time.

— The Bay Street Brief Team