Bermuda has a long history of commitment to upholding compliance with international best practices, while understanding and recognising the need for continuous improvement and management of the various stakeholders of the jurisdiction.
Bermuda has prudently taken strides to adapt, augment and reinforce its solid regulatory and legal environment with continuous sensible oversight that continues to position the jurisdiction as a leader among its peers. Insurers, investors, service providers and other business interests continue to react favourably to the thoughtful, yet purposeful way that the island has moved forward with more recent innovations such as fintech.
“Bermuda is consistently at the forefront of best practices,” comments Sherman Taylor (pictured), Associate Director, Estera, one of Bermuda’s leading independent providers of corporate, fiduciary, fund administration and trust services.
“The jurisdiction has taken a pragmatic approach to creating and implementing the appropriate legislation and systems. People doing business with Bermudian entities can be reasonably assured that the highest international standard of best practices are being observed and applied.”
Bermuda has long had a sophisticated governance and compliance legislative and regulatory regime. Take, for example, the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism legislation is the well developed bench mark of its AML/ATF regime, which has prudently been amended over the years, in lockstep with international models and expectations. Bermuda also has data protection laws that have been developed to provide a sophisticated and safe arena for the repository for PII.
“Bermuda strives for the gold standard when it comes to tax transparency, and has an extensive tax treaty network with well over a hundred treaties in place,” says Taylor.
The ILS asset class is an excellent example of how Bermuda’s prudent regulatory practices, combined with its balanced, practical application of rules, continue to accommodate and encourage innovation, produce correlated and uncorrelated growth in a sector and generate investor confidence.
New technology is increasingly being incorporated into the administration of funds, insurance vehicles and other relevant industries. If one looks at the recent development of fintech and other related business lines, Bermuda has acknowledged and is looking to harness the relatively new concept of “insurtech”. Insurtech combines conventional insurance with new technology to customise insurance coverage, policies and premiums by using data derived from technology like GPS and social media.
As a major insurance / reinsurance hub and the leading global centre for Insurance Linked Securities (ILS), the relevance of insurtech and similar technological advances is fully recognised by Bermuda’s lawmakers, regulators and services providers. There is a fair amount of excitement among the island’s service providers in relation to technology and the future, Time will tell to what extent fintech will be incorporated into the business models in Bermuda.
Investment funds, insurance companies and other finance entities are already starting to embrace available technology, and it is also conceivable that the use of such technology will become less of an option, and more of a necessity in time.
Bermuda’s reputation for regulatory excellence makes it an attractive place to do business. The jurisdiction is capable of meeting any new challenges of 2019 and beyond. Staying on its current course should keep Bermuda firmly on the right path to continued success.
“Bermuda has the right formula, and the successes of the past could be replicated with fintech in time,” concludes Taylor. “Choice of jurisdiction is an important factor and Bermuda certainly has a lot to offer with regards to compliance, regulation and facilitating innovation.”
