Governor: ‘Bermuda Has An Excellent Record’

The Governor, Mr. George Fergusson, gave the opening speech at the 2nd Annual Financial Crime & Compliance Seminar on Thursday [Oct 9].

In his remarks, he referred to the international debates around small financial services jurisdictions, noting that some campaigners won’t always let facts get in the way of a good point.

Governor Fergusson said, “Respectable small jurisdictions need to campaign back, and be nimble, and get their good arguments in as quickly as unfair arguments get out on the other side.

“But in this rightly increasingly transparent world, it is not going to be possible to maintain an image of purity for very long if it is built on a disreputable reality.

“It may, sadly, often be difficult to maintain a pure image even when it is deserved. But getting the substance right and keeping it clean is essential if the model is to be preserved over time. Major scandals, particularly if unaddressed, can undermine the whole structure.

“Systemic weaknesses which allow widespread small abuses can be likewise corrosive. And failure to play the increasingly demanding part required in global efforts at transparency, and enforcement, in corruption, money laundering – all these can bring down a small, clean jurisdictions business model quickly and ruthlessly.

“I am proud that Bermuda has an excellent record in these areas. It attracts business partly by offering tough regulations – which isn’t necessarily what the person in the street in Washington, Paris or London assumes. It is found by the OECD to be ‘largely compliant’ on matters of tax transparency – in the same class as the UK and the US.

“It is a leader in the number of countries it has tax information exchange arrangements with. It is a leader, not least, in having a longstanding registry of beneficial ownership – available to law enforcement partners – covering companies and trusts.

“But for Bermuda and the similar jurisdictions internationally, in a world in which new rules – and sometimes the questionable challenges to them – change very fast, not changing means to fall behind. It isn’t a very relaxing process – but the alternatives are worse”.

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