Bermuda Government

18 Dec 2018

Jeremy Leese

The Economic Substance Act 2018 (the “Economic Substance Act”) was tabled on 7 December 2018 and, following revisions, again on 17 December 2018.

Background

In November 2017, the Government of Bermuda made a commitment to the Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) (the “COCG”) of the Council of the EU to address concerns relating to economic substance. Bermuda agreed to pass legislation to implement any appropriate changes by 31 December 2018 to avoid being put on an EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.

23:17 / Bermuda Government / Commercial Law / Company & Commercial Law / Insurance / Legislation
21 Sep 2018

Brian Holdipp
For a number of years, the international financial services sector has contributed the greatest amount to the Bermuda economy.  According to the National Economic Report published by the Ministry of Finance, international business provided $1.68 billion in total output or 27.3 per cent of total GDP in 2016. It is critical for Bermuda’s economic well-being then, that the Island remains in step with international standards set by supra-national regulatory authorities to protect the jurisdiction’s financial system from abuse.
13:17 / Bermuda Government / Company & Commercial Law / Fraud & Anti Money Laundering
13 Sep 2018

Jeremy Leese
The Digital Asset Business Act 2018 (the “DAB Act”) became operative on 10th September 2018, creating a legislative framework for digital asset business and services to operate within a regulated environment in or from within Bermuda. Digital assets are defined as anything that exists in binary format and comes with the right to use it and includes a digital representation of value that:
15:47 / Bermuda Case Law & Legislation / Bermuda Government / Company & Commercial Law
27 Jul 2018

Denis de Frias
In a post from 2017, we discussed how it was expected that Land Title Registration would go live in 2018. Since then, several important steps have been taken toward bringing the land title registration regime to Bermuda. The Land Title Registration Amendment Act 2018 has been passed both by Parliament and the Senate and is expected to be given Royal Assent very soon. This will then enable the Land Title Registry Office to begin accepting applications for voluntary registration. In this post, we have taken the opportunity to interview Land Title Registry Officer, Tim Stewart, to ask him all about voluntary registration, what the application procedure is, how long it is expected to take and cost, etc. See below our questions and Tim’s answers.
19:15 / Bermuda Case Law & Legislation / Bermuda Government / Property Law
04 Jul 2018

Jeremy Leese
In a recent announcement, the Premier of Bermuda, David Burt, who is also Minister of Finance, made it clear that his intention is for a “new class of bank” to come to Bermuda, with legislation on the way to create new services to cater to Bermuda-based FinTech companies. This was due to the island’s fledgling FinTech sector facing “understandable resistance” from banks, as their business model “does not fit the mould of what we have come to know as Bermuda’s traditional model.”
17:55 / Bermuda Government / Company & Commercial Law
14 May 2018

Jeremy Leese
Hot on the heels of the Companies and Limited Liability Company (Initial Coin Offering) Amendment Act 2018 (the “ICO Act”), which seeks to introduce a statutory framework for initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) and has now passed both the House of Assembly and the Senate, comes the tabling of the Digital Asset Business Act 2018 (the “DAB Act”).
18:47 / Bermuda Case Law & Legislation / Bermuda Government / Company & Commercial Law