David Burt, the Premier, beat the drum for Bermuda as a financial technology centre at a conference in New York City this week.

Mr Burt had a “fireside chat” with Mercina Tillemann-Dick, chief operating officer of the Global Blockchain Business Council to discuss the island’s work to create “world-leading” fintech regulations.

Mr Burt, also held a series of meetings at the Concordia Summit, organised on a non-profit basis to promote better partnership between the public and private sectors. He was also part of a panel discussion called “GovOS — Building a New Operating System for Government” and discussed plans to make the Bermuda Government more efficient through technology.

Mr Burt said: “While in New York, I took the opportunity to meet with Sandra Ro, the CEO of the Global Blockchain Business Council, to advance plans to host a GBBC retreat in Bermuda next spring.

“I also met with Michael Casey, a well-known author, who is with the digital currency initiative at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“We discussed collaboration opportunities between Bermuda and MIT.”

Mr Burt also held talks with Jared Harwayne-Gidansky, CEO of BlockRe, a company set up to provide crypto-asset risk insurance.

He said: “They had heard about what Bermuda is doing in the fintech space and wanted to discuss how they can set up operations in Bermuda.

“This is the latest in a string of companies that will be setting up physical operations in Bermuda which will create employment opportunities for Bermudians.”