Saudi leaders seek Bermuda’s expertise in insurance
Saudi Arabian leaders want to collaborate with Bermuda’s world-renowned insurance industry, David Burt has revealed after discussions at a recent international conference.
The Premier and Finance Minister has been attending the Ninth Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, a unique assembly of global investors, leaders and pioneering minds discussing collaborative investments and innovations.
As a part of the discussions, Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, disclosed an initiative to build on his country’s financial services industry, particularly in insurance.
Mr Burt said he was invited to put together a delegation of Bermuda insurance executives to meet with Saudi industry.
“They are very serious about developing their domestic insurance industry, which works for Bermuda from a reinsurance perspective,” Mr Burt told The Royal Gazette.
He emphasised the significance of high-level bilateral meetings at FII9 in Riyadh, noting: “The most important part of this is not so much the attendance of the conference. It is the bilateral meetings that we’ve been able to have with the Saudi Government.”
Mr Burt also met with Abdulmuhsen Alkhalaf, the Saudi Vice-Minister of Finance, and Saad bin Abdulaziz Al-Khalb, chief executive of the Saudi Export-Import Bank.
Bermuda’s leadership in digital-asset regulation also continues to draw international attention, with Mr Burt touting the island’s regulatory regime as a model for other jurisdictions.
“Bermuda has always been there to share our regulations, and it is not an exaggeration to say, whether it's the regulations that we see in place for digital finance in Europe, in Asia or in America. A lot of them are copying from the work we did in 2018,” he said. “The Digital Asset Business Act is known as a fundamental piece of legislation that has many ‘children’, because there are a lot of persons that have referred to the work that the Bermuda Monetary Authority did and the regulatory environment that they set up.”
He described the contribution of the digital-asset sector as multifaceted, with benefits to the local economy. “That is jobs in one aspect, but that's tax revenue, that's regulatory revenue to the [BMA], which enables us to either reduce taxes or increase investments in the country,” he explained.
The premier emphasised the importance of innovation for Bermuda’s future competitiveness.
“In order for Bermuda to continue to be successful as an international financial centre, we must remain on the forefront of innovation, spreading that message, attracting additional investors and making sure that people recognise that Bermuda's regulations are some of the best in class,” Mr Burt said.
David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, has shifted his perspective about Bermuda’s potential to attract private sector investment for ocean conservation and sustainability projects.
Asked by The Royal Gazette whether he believed Bermuda could attract meaningful investment in the blue economy sector, he said: “If you'd have asked that question two days ago, I would have said no.”
He said all that changed after a morning session yesterday with global ocean experts at the Ninth Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.
He explained: “If you look at the example which took place with the Bahamas, where they were able to actually get significant investment due to their massive seagrass bed, [they were] able to raise a significant amount of money on a refinance basis,” he said. “They were able to use it for carbon credits and carbon exchange. So there are a number of things that do work.”
The Bahamas are home to the world's largest expanse of seagrass beds, and those marine ecosystems are now being monetised in the form of carbon credits to the tune of $300 million, according to CarbonCredits.com.
The Premier added that new discussions about such carbon credits and other initiatives are “continuing to broaden the work which Bermuda’s doing, among other players in the region”.
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