The Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2018 and the Cost of Living Commission Amendment Act 2018 were both passed without objection in the House of Assembly on Monday night.

David Burt, the Premier, provided the second and third readings of both Bills.

Mr Burt said The Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act increased the number of non-executive members of the BMA from ten to 11.

He explained: “The purpose of this increase is to provide the Minister of Finance the capacity to appoint persons not only with experience in traditional finance services, but also with experience in emerging technologies such as fintech and distributive ledger technology.”

He added that the BMA had been consulted and had “no objection” to the Amendment.

Mr Burt said the Cost of Living Commission Amendment Act changed the number of commission members from three to between seven and 12.

He said the additional members would help “formulate ideas and suggestions on how best to reduce the cost of living”.

Jeanne Atherden, Leader of the Opposition, questioned the size increase.

Ms Atherden said: “I just wonder why we have to go that high of a number.”

A number of Bills were also passed last week.

The Financial Services Tax Amendment Act 2018 was approved and passed in the House on Friday, as was the Exchange Control Amendment Act 2018.

Wayne Furbert, the junior finance minister, said the former clarified that money services businesses would no longer have to pay financial services tax on incoming money transmissions.

He said it also clarified the definition of “gross premiums”.

Mr Furbert said there had been questions from “the financial service providers in the insurance sector” about what this meant since the Financial Services Tax Act came into force last year.

The Regulatory Authority (Service Fees) Regulations 2018, Electricity (Regulatory Authority Fees) Regulations 2018, and the Electronic Communications (Regulatory Authority Fees) Regulations 2018 were also approved.