Bahamas moves off OECD tax "gray list"

* Atlantic archipelago has signed 18 tax info accords

* Latest financial center to move to OECD's "white list"

By Neil Hartnell

NASSAU, March 10 (Reuters) - Bahamas has been removed from an OECD "gray list" of countries that have not fully implemented internationally agreed tax standards, the government and the OECD said on Wednesday.

The Atlantic archipelago, an international financial center which is home to more than 250 licensed bank and trust companies, moved onto the "white list" of nations which have substantially implemented tax and information standards set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20 group of nations.

Bahamas signed tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) on Wednesday with seven Nordic countries. With 18 such bilateral accords now signed, it has now passed the required 12 agreements to be removed from the OECD "gray list".

World leaders agreed at a G20 summit in London last year to crack down on tax evasion and banking secrecy, and the group asked the OECD to publish and update lists of tax havens.

"Given the role that the Bahamas plays in the financial world, I am particularly pleased that they have made significant progress and continue to expand their network of partners with whom they have TIEAs," Jeffrey Owens, director of the OECD's Center for Tax Policy and Administration said in a statement.

Bahamas' Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing also welcomed the reclassification.

"The Government of the Bahamas anticipates that, with the network of cooperation created by the tax information agreements to which it is a party, the country will thrive as an international financial center, as it embraces the changing international regulatory environment," he said.

The financial services sector in Bahamas employs about 6,000 local and foreign professionals, and is regarded as the country's most important economic engine after tourism, accounting for an estimated 15-20 percent of annual GDP.

The archipelago was one of a string of Atlantic and Caribbean offshore finance centers that were targeted as tax havens and placed on the OECD "gray list".

Several Caribbean leaders have condemned the OECD tax standards as "discriminatory," arguing that some financial centers in the United States and Europe are considerably less transparent than many Caribbean territories under scrutiny.

Among other Atlantic and Caribbean jurisdictions that have subsequently obtained removal from the OECD "gray list" are Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands. (Editing By Pascal Fletcher and Kenneth Barry)