A senior adviser at the Bermuda Monetary Authority was a “consummate professional” across many years’ service at the island’s financial services regulator.

Marcia Woolridge-Allwood, daughter of the late former tourism minister Jim Woolridge, was “one of the cornerstones” for the BMA, Opposition leader Cole Simons told the House of Assembly.

Mr Simons added: “She was a consummate professional, a warm person and a warm friend.”

Progressive Labour Party MPs Ianthia Simmons-Wade and Wayne Furbert also paid tribute to their former classmate from the Berkeley Institute in Friday’s sitting of the House.

The BMA said staff were “deeply saddened” at her passing.

A statement added: “Having served as a BMA employee since 1986, her contributions to the authority, Bermuda’s financial services industry, global standards of supervision and regulation, and Bermuda at large cannot be expressed adequately in words.”

The BMA has set up a virtual remembrance page that will remain open until 5pm on October 6.

Her oversight covered Bermuda’s banks, deposit companies, trust and investment businesses, investment funds, fund administrators, corporate service providers, money service businesses, credit union and the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

Before she joined the BMA, Ms Woolridge-Allwood worked in the Canadian banking industry.

She then served as a licensing and insolvencies division technical officer at the Bermuda Registrar of Companies.

In 1986, Ms Woolridge-Allwood joined the BMA manager at Exchange Control.

In 1990, she was promoted to deputy general manager, where she oversaw the corporate and administrative divisions.

Ms Woolridge-Allwood was seconded to London for two years’ training at the Supervisory and Regulatory Departments of the Financial Services Authority, which has since been split into other regulatory groups.

She returned to the BMA to serve as deputy director of banking, trust and investment.

In that role, she led the authority’s internal assessment and licensing committee.

She also represented the BMA at numerous international regulatory meetings.

In 2004, Ms Woolridge-Allwood was appointed director of corporate and financial services, followed by director of banking, trust and investment in 2011.

In 2017, she moved to managing director at supervision, banking, trust, corporate services and investment.

The following year she was appointed to senior adviser at BTCSI.

She is survived by her mother, Roslyn Woolridge; her daughter, Tiffany Allwood, and her sister, Annarita Marion.

• Marcia Louise Denise Woolridge-Allwood, a senior adviser at the Bermuda Monetary Authority, was born on February 27, 1957. She died on September 23, 2021, aged 64.