Bermuda: Financial Services

The Bermuda Monetary Authority has released a consultation paper on artificial intelligence regulation in financial services, proposing a risk-based framework that extends existing regulatory requirements rather than creating new licensing regimes. Financial institutions now face critical decisions about how to classify AI use cases, implement governance controls, and prepare for heightened scrutiny of generative and agentic AI systems before the October 30 feedback deadline.

Bermuda's Digital Asset Business Act framework offers DeFi platforms and DAOs a structured regulatory pathway that bridges decentralised governance with institutional-grade compliance. Through tiered licensing and foundation company structures, projects can evolve from testing to full authorisation while maintaining token-holder governance and meeting institutional investor requirements.

Bermuda's private equity funds face mounting pressure as net asset values concentrate in fewer, larger portfolios while traditional exit routes remain constrained. With merger and acquisition markets uncertain and distribution droughts complicating fundraising, sponsors must navigate continuation vehicles and NAV financing as alternative liquidity solutions, each carrying distinct structural complexities and contractual implications under Bermuda's flexible partnership framework.

The global shipping industry in 2025 demonstrated resilience through active financing markets, strategic consolidation, and a steady pipeline of equity and M&A transactions.

This comprehensive guide examines how five major offshore jurisdictions—Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, and Jersey—approach close-out netting and set-off provisions in insolvency scenarios. The analysis explores the enforceability of ISDA Master Agreements and the critical distinctions between statutory frameworks and contractual arrangements across these financial centers.

Legal teams care about structure, disclosure and enforceability; capital teams care about classification, diversification and solvency treatment; actuarial teams care about cash-flow behaviour...

Annual catastrophe bond issuance hit record heights for the third consecutive year in 2025, and as Brad Adderley, Managing Partner at law firm Appleby’s Bermuda office highlights, given the significant activity and momentum observed in the market, it would not be unexpected for the market to achieve $20 billion once more in 2026.

Our Bermuda update highlights key enhancements that the Bermuda Monetary Authority has made to regulations to extend the scope of the Digital Asset Regimes and ensure it remains relevant...

A proposed new Payment Services Act will replace the Money Service Business Act 2016, introducing a tiered risk-based licensing framework and three activity categories: digital facility providers...