Bermuda is one of the world's leading insurance and financial service centers, employing a legal system based on English Common Law.
Bermuda is one of the world’s leading financial services centers. The country employs a legal system based on English Common Law and is known for its political stability, proactive regulatory environment, and well established legal, accounting, and trust services.
Bermuda has entered into various bilateral Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) and participation in the OECD’s Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which includes over 100 countries. Also, in order to counter tax evasion around the globe, Bermuda was an early adopter of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) which requires foreign financial institutions to collect and report certain information about an account holder’s account to the relevant tax authority. These factors make Bermuda an ideal location for international high net worth clients and institutional investors wishing to purchase private placement life insurance and annuity products.
Bermuda and its financial and prudential regulator, the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) was granted equivalency under the European Union’s (“EU”) Solvency II Directive, which was retroactively applied to January 1, 2016. The Solvency II Directive codifies and harmonizes the EU’s insurance regulation. The BMA has worked toward equivalence under Solvency II by embarking on a program of regulatory change to enhance Bermuda’s regulatory framework for commercial insurers to reflect a progressive risk-based approach to regulation. Bermuda’s equivalence under Solvency II marks not only the BMA’s supervisory expertise, but also the caliber of commercial (re)insurers and insurance groups operating from Bermuda and the quality of their regulatory environment.