Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in large-scale hotel overhauls, new office buildings, newbuild homes and renovations.

While there is a broad variety of project types producing work for contractors, construction is not in “boom” territory relative to recent history, according to Alex DeCouto, managing director of Greymane Construction.

“I don’t think you can single any category out – there is a healthy amount of investment in property happening, but certainly nothing approaching 2008 levels of employment and projects,” he said. “This is the level of investment that the industry needs on an ongoing basis.”

Indeed, government employment statistics show there were 2,163 full-time jobs in construction in 2025 — about 1,500 fewer than in the employment peak of 2008.

However, firms whose expertise can gain them a share of hospitality, commercial and residential work are thriving in today’s construction environment.

Commercial Glass & Aluminum Co, for example, is working on a range of residential upgrades and window replacements, while also working on the redevelopment of Grotto Bay Beach Resort. It will also install 581 showers as part of the Fairmont Southampton overhaul and is the provider and installer of glass for the new Luscar Place office building, going up in west Hamilton.

Steve Barber, managing director of Commercial Glass, who took over the business in 2015, said working on major projects helps to build a company’s reputation and leads to more opportunities.

“With every year, business has got a bit better,” he said. “You get too big, too quick and you get in trouble. I’m still being cautious, but I’m confident we’re moving in the right direction.”

Hospitality projects

The Fairmont Southampton is a massive construction project, a $550 million overhaul by owner Westend Properties, a subsidiary of Gencom. Reopening of the 593-room hotel is scheduled for August.

By early January this year, work was picking up pace. Westend said roofing was complete in the north wing and work had begun on the resort’s west wing and ballroom roofs, while a complete renovation of the guest rooms was under way. Work was also ongoing at the resort’s Ocean Club and Beach Club, where a new resort-style pool was being installed.

Last August, the company said more than 150 Bermudians, spouses of Bermudians and permanent resident’s certificate holders had been involved in the redevelopment project. And the work looks set to continue, given the 2023 government approved of a special development order to build up to 250 units on the property.

At the Grotto Bay Beach Resort, ongoing development includes the construction of two three-story buildings comprising an 53 additional guest rooms, and additionally a new sewage plant. This follows expansions to the Castle Harbour property’s dining rooms.

Looming ahead is a major redevelopment at Elbow Beach, where The Loren Group plans to demolish the main building of the Paget resort, place a 75-key building on the current site of tennis courts and erect a combination of 27 estate homes and cottage-style accommodations.

Stephen King, the co-owner of The Loren Group, hopes work will be completed in late 2028 so the hotel is ready for the 2029 season.

There are also plans for a new hotel in Hamilton, to be called Sankofa House. Ay Ay Holdings Bermuda Ltd has received support, on appeal, from the Department of Planning for its proposal to redevelop the vacant Victoria Hall, in Hamilton, into a nine-storey, 94-room property.

And in Warwick, plans to convert the former Riddell’s Bay Golf Club clubhouse into a brewery and restaurant were approved by the Development Applications Board in April last year.

Commercial property

Perhaps the most visible construction site in Bermuda is Brookfield Place, at 91 Front Street, a nine-storey office and retail development, scheduled to be completed this year.

A short walk away, at 69 Pitts Bay Road, just east of the Bacardi Building, is Luscar Place, a seven-storey building that will provide 130,000 sq ft of prime office space.

The Green family, who have already left their mark on west Hamilton with their transformations of the Hamilton Princess and Beach Club, Waterloo House and Point House, are the investors behind Luscar Place.

The new complex, which will be solar-powered and will also comprise two ground-floor retail units, is scheduled for completion in July 2027.

A more unusual commercial building project for Bermuda is the Google transatlantic cable landing station on a 5.9-acre site at Burrows Hill, St David’s.

The plan comprises a 35,000 sq ft single-storey building, along with a small guardhouse and parking for 14 cars and 12 motorcycles, as well as a mechanical yard housing six generators. Google also plans an 8ft security fence.

A planning report filed with the Development Applications Board said the work would involve “significant and extensive cutting and filling” to create a level area on the property, with rock cuts as high as 30ft.

Residential

Government capital spending has the potential to play a significant role in the pipeline of future construction work.

As Mr DeCouto observed: “We will be watching closely what Government does in the housing space and with Corporate Income Tax funds specifically, as housing minister Zane DeSilva has been making lots of noise about projects in the pipeline.

“I’m hoping he can pull some things off, because most of our middle- and lower-income citizens need help with housing.”

Mr DeSilva has spelled out his hopes to roll out up to 1,500 affordable units over the next decade. High on his list of potential development sites are Victoria Row and Albert Row in Sandys; a vacant lot near Dr Cann Park in Southampton; Tommy Fox Road in St David’s; 13 Ewing Street in Hamilton; and Harbour View Village, in St David’s. All these sites are managed by the Bermuda Housing Corporation and the Bermuda Land Management Company.

The ministry is looking at prefabricated and modular construction techniques to deliver homes as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. With more than 350 households on the BHC waitlist as of the end of 2025, social need may be a strong driver of residential construction investment.

The post Projects in the pipeline appeared first on RG Magazines.

While the industry is busy and has a generally healthy order book, it faces challenges including a shortage of skilled workers, and the the expense of materials and shipping.

Construction continues to be a significant employer, providing 2,163 jobs, according to the most recent government statistics, or about 6 per cent of full-time positions in Bermuda.

The sector generated $147.6 million of employment income in 2024, and over the first three quarters of 2025, it paid out near $118 million in wages and salaries – up 8.8 per cent over the previous year.

However, as with many local businesses, construction companies are struggling to find local labour. As of August 2025, 31 per cent of the construction workforce (or 680 workers) were on work permits, up from 26 per cent three years earlier.

Alex DeCouto, of Greymane Construction, said: “The employment statistics continue to show declining numbers of locals and all new positions being filled by expats. We are looking far and wide for workers, as the US is experiencing a similar dearth of talent in the industry.”

In both the United States and Britain, industry groups have highlighted national shortages among the hundreds of thousands of construction workers. Bermuda is in global competition for skills in worldwide demand. Mr DeCouto would like to see tweaks in immigration policy to make importing necessary labour less cumbersome and pricey.

“The recent restrictions to require all work permit applicants to have travel visas through our gateway cities (US, Canada or UK) really tightens the pool and makes it expensive to get people here,” Mr DeCouto said.

“However, I  understand the need to make sure that people can be deported easily. What I don’t understand is the Department of Immigration’s recent move to require English proficiency tests for all applicants. We’ve been investigating and find these tests to be pretty tough.

“They’ve been described as being equivalent to high school English tests, which will be a real struggle for our blue collar staff, many of whom may not have finished high school.

“This will be a tough pill to swallow and further restrict our ability to source workers from abroad. This will do nothing good to the already high cost of construction.”

He added that dropping the English test for tradespeople who do not hold public-facing positions would be welcomed by contractors.

Managing demand

Steven Barber, managing director of Commercial Glass & Aluminum Co, says he manages his labour needs by adding imported temporary workers to his core local staff when the workload demands. His business has a track record of employing and training Bermudians, and he added that the Immigration Department has always approved requests for necessary work permits.

Commercial Glass, which supplies, manufactures and installs windows, door screens, sliding glass doors and showers, had a staff of 23 in February, but Mr Barber said this would rise as worked on a major project kicked off.

Costs of materials have continued to rise, fuelling the increase in the cost of construction and home renovations.

“Certainly prices have gone up over the past year,” Mr Barber said. “Aluminium manfacturers, in particular, have been reluctant to hold their price. If we make an order, they will hold the price for 30 days and then the price may change – and usually, it does.

“Glass manufacturers have held their prices longer. Depending on the type of product, they’ve gone up anywhere from 5 per cent to 25 per cent.

“We also buy fasteners, screws and caulking in bulk. Everything has been creeping up in price, little by little, and it’s become quite a lot more expensive.”

Commercial Glass sources about 65 per cent of its supplies from the US and the remainder from Canada. Mr Barber said he had not heard suppliers mention tariffs as a factor in price increases.

Offsetting the rising price of materials are the customs duty reductions that took effect on July 1 last year, when the rate on all building materials and supplies attracting a levy above 10 per cent was dropped to 10 per cent by the Government.

For Commercial Glass, this has brought substantial savings, with duties on items such as windows and doors imported for projects falling from above 25 per cent to 10 per cent.

“This has worked out well, it helps to keep people working and keeps the economy going,” Mr Barber said.

He cited another business-friendly change by the Government – the streamlining of truck licensing applications, from a burdensome, bureaucratic process to a fully digital submission.

The Government has also taken action to reduce a backlog of building permit applications, which numbered 293 as of the end of 2025. In mid-February, the SAFEbuilt digital tool, designed to “accelerate processing while maintaining Bermuda’s established planning and building standards”, was put to work to help clear the pending permits.

Modular construction

One area where Mr DeCouto would like to see more government involvement is in affordable housing. The cost of building makes it uneconomic to produce the new units Bermuda needs, he added.

“I think we are in the position that many developed countries find themselves in; the cost of construction has outpaced wages,” Mr DeCouto said. “I believe the Government should take a more prominent role in supply side housing interventions. They should follow the Singapore model.”

He said the Approved Hamilton Residential Scheme, which encourages investment in residential and mixed-use developments in the city, was helpful and could spur some projects.

“Modular construction”, which involves the fabrication of the core of a building in a factory and then being transported to the site as large unit, also has potential to cut costs.

“Usually the envelope, including roof and exterior walls are assembled on site around the modules,” Mr DeCouto said. “You end up with a fairly typical construction frame in steel and then a glazed envelope like you would see in many commercial multistory buildings already in Bermuda.”

Many are looking at the feasibility of transportation of these large units, and cost-cutting potential of modular construction, to weigh its potential for Bermuda. Viability could depend on sites suitable for a large number of units on a location close to a major port, Mr DeCouto added.

“There are only a relative handful of sites that will be appropriate for one of these schemes,” he said. “But the promise of lower cost and demand for affordable housing make this option definitely worth pursuing. I think government participation and incentives will be important.”

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Those who seize opportunities to build up a track record of work experience — especially with different companies and sampling various departments — can gain an edge when they enter the competitive job market.

That’s the message from the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies, an organisation founded by insurance industry leaders in 1996 with the goal of creating opportunities for Bermudian students to gain the education and training necessary to enter the insurance sector.

Victoria Cunningham, executive director of BFIS, said students who spent their summers in internships would gain “the experience to back up what they learnt in the classroom”.

She encouraged all students who see their future in insurance to seek out internship opportunities. “We’ve seen some students who take up lifeguarding for the summer, or work on the tour boats. That’s great for the summer after you graduate high school and maybe your first university summer, but then you’ve got to start knuckling down.

“If you want to be on the same playing field, or higher than your peers coming into the industry, you need to have done at least one, if not two internships in the field to help you get that job.

“It’s not just about gaining experience and building a network, it also helps you to work out whether this is something you actually want to do. Do you like the company? Do you like the job? It’s your fact-finding mission.”

Vital experience

Students should also embrace scholarships that include an internship as a requirement, Ms Cunningham added.

“Some young people say, ‘I don’t want to have to do that.’ But they don’t realise the value that is there, because a) the internship is automatic, so they don’t have to apply for anything; and b) it’s giving them vital experience that they don’t need to get from somewhere else.”

Some students return to the same company each summer as interns, building their relationship with that employer. However, stints with different companies could be more valuable in finding the role that suits them best.

“Getting that varied experience puts them out of their comfort zone,” said Bonnie Exell, BFIS administrator. “Moving around and experiencing different roles and companies could help build their confidence and resilience when it comes to the realities of the employment marketplace.

“All of these support programmes are giving students the opportunity to practise being in a in a work environment and to learn to be a better professional, and everything that involves, from what you wear to how you behave.”

BFIS acts a bridge between young people aiming to work in insurance and the industry itself. It offers scholarships, mentorship, networking and career guidance.

It also offers the BFIS “Intro to Insurance” internship, which gives participants a broad view of the industry in different markets and at multiple companies. It takes students on an intensive three-week tour of the Bermuda market, and two weeks exploring the insurance world in either London or Chicago.

Students often visit two insurance companies a day, and also visit brokers, financial regulator the Bermuda Regulatory Authority, and law firms in Bermuda. In London, the intern visits begin with a visit to Lloyd’s of London. Such access provides students with a broad and international perspective of the industry.

High success rate

BFIS is currently supporting 32 scholars — 13 of whom received BFIS scholarships and the remainder supported by individual companies. The BFIS scholars get preference for the sought-after internship places.

In the BFIS office on Cedar Avenue, Hamilton, rows of framed photographs of dozens of BFIS scholars adorn the walls, reflecting the organisation’s significant beneficial impact on Bermuda’s youth over many years.

“We describe our success rate as 94 per cent, meaning that of the 297 BFIS scholars to date, 94 per cent are currently working in the insurance industry — many in Bermuda, but some elsewhere in the world, including Atlanta, London, Dubai, Sydney and Toronto,” Ms Exell said.

She attributed this remarkable effectiveness in launching students into insurance careers to the BFIS programme’s “scaffolding” — the multifaceted support afforded to students that prepares them for life in the industry.

Ms Cunningham explained: “We have the network to be able to provide these students with a mentor, internship opportunities, support through university, and post graduation to seamlessly succeed in the industry.

“BFIS has an enormous network of about 650 mentors, many of whom are alumni. And we have access to others in the industry, and the students will then draw on their expertise.”

Ms Cunningham, who took the helm at BFIS 18 months ago and is also an adjunct insurance lecturer at Bermuda College, worked in the insurance industry for 22 years, in analyst and underwriting roles, and served as a BFIS mentor herself.

“It’s really important for scholars to fully understand the benefits of a mentor,” Ms Cunningham said. “Even with an internship, many companies give them a buddy or an internal mentor.

“It’s not just a relationship for a summer, or one or two years. If you keep moulding it, it will just grow. And you can have more than one mentor. These are the additional benefits of scholarships and internships that don’t have a price tag on them, but are monumental in terms of the impact on your success.”

BFIS has a Schools Outreach Committee, comprised of alumni who attended each of Bermuda’s high schools. Their interaction with students includes areas such as careers in insurance, applying for scholarships and resume writing.

Two speed networking events per year also give students and scholars the chance of time with industry professionals.

Ms Cunningham and Ms Exell encouraged any student interested in entering the insurance industry to reach out to BFIS at [email protected] or by calling 295-1266.

The post Gaining an edge in the insurance job market appeared first on RG Magazines.

That is the key message of the campaign of the same name run annually by the Association of Bermuda International Companies, in conjunction with the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, Bermuda International Long-Term Insurers and Reinsurers, and the Bermuda Business Development Association.

Adding substance to that concept is the Abic Career Shifters Scholarship, an educational award designed to help those already established in a career gain the education or professional designations needed to pivot into IB and thrive.

Unlike traditional scholarships aimed at school leavers, the Career Shifters Scholarship recognises the value of real-world experience and supports adults ready for a professional change.

This scholarship was launched in 2025 as a new feature of the campaign, adding to the Abic Education Awards, the island’s largest and longest-running private-sector scholarship programme, with a history stretching back nearly 50 years.

Providing a grant of $5,000 to career shifters looking to upgrade their skills, the scholarship helps recipients to gain industry-recognised designations through organisations such as The Institutes, an international educational organisation focused on the insurance industry, and other accredited professional bodies, or take courses either in person or online through the Bermuda College or overseas universities.

Having generated a strong response last year, two awards are on offer for 2026, as part of the “International business is everybody’s business” campaign. The new sponsor of the 2026 campaign and the associated scholarships is Lombard Odier, a Swiss private bank specialising in wealth and asset management.

International business is everyone’s business

Wayne Smith, Abic’s executive director, said Lombard Odier, which is celebrating 50 years in Bermuda, epitomised the symbiotic relationship between IB and the island. The company has contributed to the island’s gross domestic product for decades, he added, and has employed and promoted many Bermudians.

“We wanted to do something more substantial for the ‘International business is everybody’s business’ campaign in 2025, and the Abic Marketing Committee proposed a scholarship for career shifters,” said Mr Smith, giving credit to the committee’s chairwoman, Zina Edwards, the director of corporate communications and stakeholder relations for the Bermuda Tourism Authority.

The scholarship is deliberately designed to be accessible to mid-career professionals. To be eligible to apply for the Career Shifters Scholarship, applicants must be Bermudian or Permanent Resident’s Certificate holder, or eligible to acquire one, between the ages of 25 and 65, and must be accepted by a school or professional education organisation by the time of the interview. The award is based on financial need.

While many people working in different fields may not think there would be a place for their skill sets in international business, the breadth of IB jobs requires a range of capabilities.

Beyond underwriters, accountants and corporate lawyers, international companies employ professionals in IT, data analysis, engineering, marketing and communications, human resources, facilities management, administration and catering, among many others. From this perspective, it is clear that a wide range of skills and knowledge is transferable into IB. 

Malinda Jennings, Abic’s scholarship and executive administrator, said that among the 14 applicants for last year’s Career Shifters Scholarship were a nurse, a construction worker, a musician, teachers, single parents who wanted to upskill, and someone who missed out on going to university and wanted to study law.

“The average age of applicants last year was about 30, so we are dealing with mature adults,” Ms Jennings said. “While we look at their transcript, we don’t put too much weight on it. More important are the references from employers that attest to their character, and when they tell us why they want to do this and how they see it happening.

“We are very strategic when we’re interviewing them — we look at where they have come from and how these skills can be transferable. We found that most of them came with a plan already. They were very sure as to what their journey was going to look like before they even applied for the scholarship.”

Powerful stories

The career focus that comes with several years of experience in the world of work was evident. 

“The stories we heard from the 2025 applicants were powerful, and they were clearly serious about pursuing their goals and dreams,” Ms Jennings said. “There was no fluff about any of them, no fly-by-night applications. They were very determined, and it was very difficult to pick from that cohort, because everyone was so well presented.”

Mr Smith is aware of many career-shifter success stories. He cited one person who was working in hospitality and moved into an international insurance company’s catering and facilities division, which today he heads. Others have moved from being receptionists at hotels to customer service at an international company.

Mr Smith gave another potential example: “Someone who has a construction background – experience in project management, maintenance, masonry, carpentry, or plumbing, for example – could end up as a facilities manager for an international company.”

Like all of the Abic Education Awards, the Career Shifters Scholarship comes with a mentor, a professional from an Abic member company, assigned to the recipient to help them make progress towards their goals. Often these mentor relationships extend beyond the time of the scholarship.

Mr Smith highlighted another key factor influencing the chances of achieving employment in the desired field: “I always tell people that the three secrets of getting a job in IB Bermuda are networking, networking, and networking.”

The Career Shifters Scholarship, he added, is designed to give recipients both the qualifications and the connections to make that transition possible.

• Applications for the Abic Career Shifters Scholarship can be made at bermudascholarships.com. The deadline is April 9, 2026.

The post Helping career shifters appeared first on RG Magazines.

Ms Oliveira recalled: “He said to me, ‘I don’t think a woman should be CEO and be a mother at the same time.’ I’m thankful for that comment, because it definitely lit a fire.”

At the time, the man in question was vying with her for a role that she successfully landed. It was not the first time Ms Oliveira had encountered this type of bias during her career in the male-dominated world of reinsurance.

But the attempted put-down served only to double her determination to succeed.

After 13 years as chief executive of Wilton Re Bermuda, while also raising two children, Ms Oliveira’s record speaks for itself.

Her tenure has brought significant growth at Wilton Re Bermuda, one of the earliest established of Bermuda’s new wave of life reinsurers. The parent company was founded in 2004 and is owned by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the investment arm of one the largest pension funds in the world. Today the Bermuda company has a balance sheet of more than $20 billion.

As she looks back at more than 30 years in insurance, Ms Oliveira can see clearly the important elements that helped her to succeed in business as a woman — including a solid base of technical expertise, the development of strong communication and leadership skills, mentors and supporters, networking (especially with other women) in the industry, and a supportive partner.

“I’ve been lucky to have had some incredible male mentors and allies, people who made me feel heard and judged me on my merits and my work, and that was key for me,” Ms Oliveira said. 

“But I’ve also had the flip side where I’ve been judged differently as a woman, in either overt or subtle ways.

“I’ve learned over the years to gravitate towards people who are allies and avoid the negative-energy people.”

Climbing the ladder

Ms Oliveira grew up in Connecticut and studied mathematics and economics. To become a qualified actuary takes an average of seven to ten years, with the support of an employer through the series of exams. In Ms Oliveira’s case, that employer was US life insurer John Hancock in Boston.

After she moved to Bermuda as a life actuary in 1999, she added the chartered financial analyst designation to her professional qualifications, further strengthening her credibility on the intersection of life insurance risk and investments.

“Building that base level of technical expertise is so important — perhaps especially for women — to establish credibility and to get your foot in the door,” Ms Oliveira said.

Moving up the ranks and managing a team requires different skills and a broader perspective than she had as an actuary focused on the numbers.

“I’m a very technical person, but moving into a leadership role meant lifting my head out of the spreadsheets and seeing the bigger picture, how the business works and how decisions are made,” she said.

“I put my hand up for projects and worked a lot of hours, and I also deliberately worked on my softer skills — how to motivate and influence people, and good communication.

“What actuaries do is complex and nerdy, a lot of numbers and formulas. Being able to distil that into a simplified format to present to management and peers is really important, so that people really understand what we’re doing.”

Ms Oliviera said she benefited greatly from guidance that helped her advance into a managerial role while working for ACE, now Chubb.

“I wasn’t part of a formal management programme at ACE, but a couple of targeted coaching sessions helped me make that shift,” she added.

Multiple surveys have shown that parenthood takes a disproportionate toll on women’s careers, reflecting the societal expectations that mothers carry the bulk of the parental load. 

Ms Oliveira remembers the early years of motherhood as “an intense period, coinciding with the global financial crisis and demanding professional responsibilities”.

She added: “I was working crazy hours, I had a newborn and a lot of responsibility at work, but I did what needed to be done.” 

Vital support

Ms Oliveira has heard the stories of how other female high fliers have managed to balance family and career, when attending the several professional women’s groups she belongs to.  

“Some women have a supportive, stay-at-home husband; some women have a power husband and a full-time live-in nanny; sometimes their mother lives with them,” she said.

“Accepting help was the common theme that I heard, and I adopted that advice. Having some kind of support is really important.”

Groups such as Women in Reinsurance, which last year presented Ms Oliveira with its Woman of the Year Award, provide an important platform for leadership development and networking. 

“I think women tend to learn from each other, and creating opportunities for these conversations is essential,” she said.

“There’s always a great turnout and I meet amazing people at every WiRe event.”

She also suggested that a recent influx of female executives could have something to do with the island’s unique environment.

“This is my own theory, but I think the safety of Bermuda, relative to other jurisdictions, the ease of getting around and the beauty of the place create an environment that many female leaders find attractive,” she said.

Outside work, Ms Oliveira has found multiple interests. She plays violin with the Bermuda Philharmonic Orchestra, serves as president of the Bermuda chapter of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, an international culinary society, serves as president of Actuaries of Bermuda, a professional community and networking group, and is a board member of the asthma charity Open Airways.

“These groups all bring people together,” Ms Oliveira said. “That’s part of what I really love about Bermuda – a special sense of community that you don’t find in other places.”

The post When bias meets determination appeared first on RG Magazines.

Since the Digital Asset Business Act (DABA) came into force in 2018, Bermuda has built a reputation as one of the first jurisdictions with a dedicated, comprehensive regime for digital-asset businesses, covering exchanges, custodians, token issuers and related services under a single framework. 

By the end of 2024, 50 firms held active licences for digital assets and insurance innovation, a 60 per cent increase over the prior year. In the first quarter of 2025, that total rose to 53 licensed entities, including 39 digital-asset companies and 14 innovative insurers. 

Bermuda is leveraging its longstanding strength in re/insurance to carve out a niche where digital assets and risk transfer intersect. 

For example, Bermuda-regulated Members Capital has launched a tokenised insurance-linked securities fund on a digital-asset exchange, while also rolling out ILS funds that can accept stablecoins as investor capital. 

And Bermudian-based Meanwhile, the first the first licensed long-term insurer to denominate premiums, policy values and claims entirely in bitcoin, announced in October that it had raised $82 million from major institutional investors, reflecting confidence in its business.

  Such developments support Bermuda’s reputation as a centre of insurance innovation. 

The Bermuda Monetary Authority has launched a discussion paper on asset tokenisation, seeking input from stakeholders on the opportunities, challenges and regulatory considerations of tokenisation, not only in insurance, but also in areas including investment funds, real estate, precious metals and environmental markets.

However, the global competitive landscape is shifting. In Washington, the tone toward digital assets has softened markedly in 2025. An executive order on “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” directed US agencies to develop coherent frameworks for digital assets, tokenisation and real-time payments as part of a broader fintech strategy. 

At the same time, the US Congress has advanced bipartisan legislation, including the Genius Act, aimed at providing federal-level clarity for core parts of the digital-asset market.

Commentators at the financial innovation firm WisdomTree have branded 2025 “the year clarity came to crypto”, arguing that US, UK and EU policymakers are converging on scalable rules after years of fragmented enforcement.

 For the global industry, a more predictable US regime is likely to be net positive, increasing institutional comfort, deepening liquidity and accelerating mainstream adoption.

 Until now, Bermuda’s clear, risk-based rules and direct access to regulators have been a differentiator, a key draw for overseas founders frustrated by uncertainty at home. If the US offers comparable clarity – alongside a larger domestic market, access to US banking rails and proximity to major venture capital hubs – some early-stage firms may opt to launch in the US, rather than a jurisdiction like Bermuda.

That does not necessarily spell decline for Bermuda. Instead, the island may sharpen its focus more narrowly and emerge as a domicile for sophisticated, cross-border structures rather than mass-market retail platforms. 

Tokenised ILS, crypto reinsurance vehicles and life insurance products denominated in digital assets are all areas where Bermuda’s re/insurance expertise and digital-asset regime intersect in ways that are hard for competitors to replicate quickly. 

In the near term, Bermuda’s challenge will be to keep building on the international credibility of its regulatory regime – particularly in areas such as tokenisation. If it can remain the jurisdiction where complex ideas in digital finance meet deep insurance capital and credible oversight, the island may find that America’s new openness is less a threat than a prompt to refine its niche.

The post US warms to digital assets – where does that leave Bermuda? appeared first on RG Magazines.

 As cyberattacks increase worldwide, the island’s wealth and concentration of high-value firms make it an appealing target for criminal groups seeking quick payouts.

The island’s global insurance sector, financial institutions, professional-services firms and even small retailers often hold sensitive data that criminals view as valuable leverage.

The major cyberattack that crippled Bermuda Government systems in September 2023 and caused disruption for weeks afterwards highlighted the potential dangers for the island.

In 2024, both the Lindo’s Group of Companies and Bermuda College revealed they had experienced “cyber incidents”. It is likely that many more Bermuda organisations have been targeted by hackers without going public.

In January this year, PowerSchool, a US education technology provider used by Bermuda’s public schools, reported that unauthorised access was obtained via compromised credentials. This attack highlighted how local organisations can be impacted by an attack on an overseas digital services provider.

 Cybersecurity firm TotalAssure projects there will be nearly 293 million cyber incidents globally this year, up 22 per cent from 2024, based on the data it tracks. Some of this increase is attributed to hackers harnessing the power of AI to increase the volume and intensity of attacks. 

Phishing e-mails, historically easier to spot, are now being crafted by AI models capable of mimicking writing styles, producing flawless grammar and generating personalised messages using publicly available information. 

What once looked like a clumsy scam can now appear indistinguishable from internal corporate communication, making it far more likely that an employee will click on a malicious link or open an infected attachment.

TotalAssure also finds 79 per cent of successful attacks use no malware, gaining access to systems through legitimate credentials hackers often obtain by duping humans, traditionally viewed as a weak link in cybersecurity defences.

No matter how strong the firewalls that a company has in place, defences can be easily bypassed if staff, unaware of the dangers, click on a suspicious link or take the phishing bait. Hence the critical importance of training. 

The Bermuda Government has moved to strengthen the island’s defences against cyberattacks, by enacting the Cybersecurity Act 2024, which tightens protections for critical national infrastructure.

The Ministry of National Security has also partnered with the International Telecommunication Union, an agency of the United Nations, to build the island’s protection and response framework against cyber threats, enabling the implementation of a national cybersecurity incident response team.

The result will be public access to “real-time threat information, awareness resources and incident reporting tools”, while also helping to equip the island with a threat intelligence platform to detect, analyse and protect against cyber threats, the Ministry has stated.

For 60 per cent of business leaders, cybersecurity is a top-three strategic priority, according to PwC’s 2026 Global Digital Trust survey of nearly 3,900 executives across 72 countries. The survey showed geopolitical risk has heightened concerns over the cyber threat. And it found many businesses are looking to use AI agents to bolster security in areas including the cloud, data protection, cyber defence and operations.

For businesses of all sizes, cybersecurity is increasingly viewed as less a purely technical issue delegated to the IT team and more a whole-organisation priority. Proactive businesses are deploying multi-factor authentication, strong password practices, encrypted backups and robust incident-response plans. Maintaining up-to-date software and applying patches in a timely fashion, is also essential to prevent hackers from exploiting known weaknesses.

As Bermuda continues to expand its high-tech economy, cybersecurity maturity must grow alongside it. The threat landscape is not standing still — and neither can Bermudian organisations.

The post Stopping the hackers appeared first on RG Magazines.

 Already the benefits being paid out by the fund exceed the social insurance contributions being paid in by nearly $70 million. 

Next year is projected to be the first in which benefits will exceed the sum of contributions plus investment income, starting the downward trajectory that leads to exhaustion by 2042.

Simply put – without significant changes – Bermudians in their mid-40s and younger are paying into a pension fund that will not pay them a cent in retirement.

To change that outlook, David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, has promised to look at proposals to reform the CPF in 2026.

Lawmakers are likely to be asked to consider adjustments to one or more of three key variables: benefits, contributions and retirement age.

In 2025, there are more than 15,000 CPF pension recipients, a number that has risen 44 per cent in the space of 14 years, as baby boomers exit the work force.

On the other side of the ledger, the number of contributors fell by nearly 6 per cent between 2011 and 2023, as the size of the workforce declined. As of 2023, there were on average 2.3 people paying into the fund for each pension recipient. As the actuarial report noted, “the CPF is not financially sustainable for the long term”.

This year the Government enacted reforms for the Public Service Superannuation Fund, which benefits public service workers, and which had been on course to run out by 2045. 

The changes raise the minimum age for uniformed services to collect full pensions from 50 to 55, and for most other civil servants from 60 to 65. There was also an increase in contributions — from 9 per cent of salary to 11.5 per cent for uniformed services and from 8 per cent to 10 per cent for other civil servants. The changes will be implemented between 2027 and 2035.

A change in retirement age seems logical, given the increase in life expectancy. A study by the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation found that in 1980, men would on average have 14 years in retirement after exiting the workforce, and by 2022, this had increased to 18 years. For women, the retirement period grew from 18 years to almost 23 years over the same period. 

Many countries facing an unfunded pension liabilities crisis have opted to raise the retirement age. Australia, Denmark and Iceland, for example, have an official retirement age of 67.

 Britain is one of several countries going through a graduated increase: the state pension age went up to 66 in 2020 and is scheduled to climb to 67 by 2028 and to 68 by 2037.

In some nations, there are financial incentives for delaying retirement. In Canada, for example, people who retire at 65 receive the standard monthly payment. If they opt to retire at 60, they receive 36 per cent less. And retiring at 70, they would pocket 42 per cent more.

All that said, in Bermuda total reliance on a government pension to cover all living expenses would seem unrealistic. The basic pension is $1,206 per month and the maximum is $1,752. Subtracting the minimum premium for the government-run FutureCare health plan for seniors — $530 a month — would not leave much to pay other bills.

 For many Bermudians, their occupational pension plans, funded by 5 per cent deductions from wages and a matching contribution from their employers, will provide more of their retirement income than their government pension.

When leaders of the pension fund management industry spoke at the CFA Society Bermuda’s Pension Breakfast Seminar in September, their message was clear: we all need take charge of our own retirement funds, rather than rely on underfunded, government-run pension schemes.

The panel noted the average pension balance in Bermuda is about $150,000 — compared to the average balance of $313,000 in American 401(k) retirement funds — for people aged 45 to 55. Local factors such as mid-career withdrawals, maternity leave and the gender pay gap make the shortfall more pronounced, they said.

To achieve an income of 70 per cent of pre-retirement income, it is likely many of us may need to work for longer, or contribute more to our pension funds, or both, the panellists remarked.

The idea that retirement happens at an age set by the Government was challenged by Karl Smith, head of pensions, life and investment at Freisenbruch, who said: “It’s not. It’s a time set on you with regard to what you put in, what plan you put in place, and it’s that planning piece that we’re all missing.”

In practice, it’s clear that in Bermuda many people are not stopping work at 65. According to the latest Employment Briefs survey, Bermuda’s workforce includes more than 3,000 people aged 65 and over, representing 9 per cent of the workforce.

Another factor that can have a significant impact on the growth of a pension nest egg is the fees charged by a fund administrator. A report by the US Department of Labour illustrated how a difference of 1 percentage point in fees charged over time reduced an example pension plan’s closing balance by a staggering 28 per cent.

In July last year, Mr Burt said that from 2020 to 2023, it was estimated that plan administrators collectively earned gross administration fees of more than $500 million, based on a typical annual fee of 1.5 per cent of a plan member’s balance.

In September this year, MPs passed legislation that limited what local defined contribution pension plan administrators can charge to 0.5 per cent when the account balance is below $25,000; 0.5 per cent when below $50,000; and 1.25 per cent when the account balance is above $50,000.

The post Action needed to save our pensions appeared first on RG Magazines.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents (72 per cent) said they would support a government-backed lending programme, in partnership with local banks, designed to encourage owners to make repairs to derelict homes. Only 9 per cent would oppose such a scheme, while 19 per cent were unsure.

And nearly half of people (46 per cent) would welcome the Government being empowered to seize long-term derelict homes for redevelopment into affordable housing, by means of compulsory acquisition orders. 

Other respondents were split between opposing the measure (28 per cent) and being unsure about it (26 per cent).

The survey of 401 residents was conducted for The Royal Gazette by Global Research. With Bermuda going through a housing crisis and with more than 1,100 people homeless, the results reflect strong support for converting a blight on the landscape into badly needed homes.

The Department of Planning, in its 2023 Housing Land Audit, recognised 333 units as “uninhabitable”. These are properties categorised by the Department of Land Valuation as having an annual rental value of $0.

Pembroke was the area with most uninhabitable structures (43), followed by Sandys and the City of Hamilton (each had 31), Warwick (25) and the Town of St George (22). 

The report stressed this data probably failed to capture all uninhabitable properties, since the onus was on owners to apply for “uninhabitable” classification, which sometimes they did not do. 

Issues that render a property unfit for living in include a collapsing roof or floor, or a combination of smaller defects that “go beyond normal repairs”.

The report explains: “Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of these properties are locked in family disputes, lack of kin readily available to inherit property, or insufficient finances are available to refurbish property so that it can return to the property market.”

Crystal Caesar, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, stated in December 2024 that the Department of Planning was working on an updated Housing Land Audit, which was not available at the time of writing.

Some of the uninhabitable buildings are are government properties. The Bermuda Housing Corporation is in the process of a four-year project to redevelop 77 derelict units to add to its available housing stock by 2027.  

In April this year, The Royal Gazette reported that the Government was considering penalties and incentives to stimulate development of vacant properties. 

A government spokesman was quoted as saying: “Vacant buildings are often empty because their owners lack the financial means to carry out necessary renovations. Simply increasing the tax burden could make revitalisation even more challenging. Instead, the Government believes a holistic and creative approach is required, one that carefully balances penalties and incentives in a way that is fair, equitable and effective.”

A government-backed lending programme to help owners of dilapidated buildings to fund renovations proved popular in the survey. Partnering with a local bank in such a way enabled the Government to launch a mortgage guarantee scheme in October 2022, in which qualifying first-time borrowers received rates as low as 5 per cent and down payments of 10 per cent for mortgages with Bermuda Commercial Bank.

As for development of newbuild affordable housing, that is only likely to happen if the Government provides financial incentives to developers, agreed nearly half (48 per cent) of respondents to the survey. Just under one in five (18 per cent) disagreed, while one third (34 per cent) were unsure. 

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In an interview with The Royal Gazette in 2010, Mr Richards said: “Take a B52, a bomber that’s designed to fly into high-risk situations. It has eight engines, so if one or two or even three fail, the plane can still fly. But in single-engine Bermuda, we have to avoid the risks that larger countries take because if our one engine stalls, we’re going down. That single engine is international business.”

In the year Mr Richards made those comments, IB represented 25.6 per cent of Bermuda’s gross domestic product and employed 11 per cent of the workforce. By 2023 IB’s share of GDP had edged up to 29 per cent, while the industry now directly provides 15 per cent of full-time jobs.

In 2024, the international business sector paid $1.78 billion to its island-based employees, a new record high, according to data from the Department of Statistics. This represents a remarkable 41 per cent of Bermuda’s total employment income earned by 15 per cent of the workforce.

It is worth emphasising how the IB sector’s value goes beyond the firms themselves. The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers’ annual economic substance survey for 2024 shows member firms’ on-island spending — on compensation for staff, business services (such as legal, accounting, IT, consulting and recruitment firms), real estate, travel, entertainment and charitable donations – totalled more than $1.2 billion in 2024.

The group of 30 or so international re/insurance firms in the survey were therefore injecting an average of $100 million per month into the local economy, a staggering sum.

 Many of the dollars paid in salaries, or to contracted local firms, are spent again and again in the local economy — for example, spending on mortgages, retail purchases, restaurant visits, travel, retail purchases, and rents. 

This so-called “multiplier effect” means the sector’s impact on the local economy is far greater than GDP statistics would suggest, given that IB dollars rippling across Bermuda drive the output of multiple other sectors.

This year the IB goose started laying a second golden egg, as the Corporate Income Tax — a 15 per cent levy on profits paid by Bermudian-based international companies with annual global revenues of 750,000 million euros ($870 million) or more — took effect. The tax was introduced as Bermuda’s response to the global minimum tax envisioned by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Pillar 2 initiative. 

The first CIT payments were scheduled to be paid in August. The Government has forecast CIT revenue of $187.5 million for 2025-26 and $600 million for each of the following two fiscal years.

While CIT filings are unpredictable and will fluctuate in line with the ups and downs of corporate profits, $600 million would represent the equivalent of a near 50 per cent boost to annual government revenues. With this seemingly too-good-to-be-true scenario comes the opportunity to pay down public debt, boost public services, upgrade infrastructure, shore up pension funds and bring tax relief to residents and businesses.

Ensuring that this extraordinary recurring windfall continues will depend on ensuring the CIT tax base opts to remain in Bermuda for the long term.

And the next step towards achieving that will be ensuring Qualified Refundable Tax Credits, structured to comply with OECD’s GloBE framework, are implemented. The Tax Reform Commission has already proposed a range of credits that reward local economic substance, initially aimed at the re/insurance industry.

 These credits would be awarded based on metrics such as employment and training of locals, investment in business innovation, infrastructure and housing, as well as consistent charitable donations over a substantial threshold. The Government tabled tax credit legislation in the House of Assembly in November.

Given that Bermuda needs investment in all of these areas, the credits themselves promise to be a boon for the local economy over time – additional to the tax revenue itself. They create incentives for big businesses to invest in badly needed housing developments, jobs and training for Bermudians, electricity and telecommunications systems and Bermuda’s nonprofit sector. 

The credits are essential for Bermuda’s competitiveness as an international business jurisdiction, because other jurisdictions, such as Singapore and Ireland, are implementing their own QRTCs as they strive to remain competitive as they revise their tax systems to comply with the global minimum tax initiative.

Another reason the stakes are high is that some of the small group of multinational companies in scope of the CIT provide hundreds of well-paying local jobs. 

A perception among this group that Bermuda is doing too little to reduce the cost of doing business would be costly for the island in terms of employment, if re/insurers respond by relocating corporate functions, or even head offices, to other locations within the group.

John Huff, Abir’s chief executive officer, said in the press release on the Abir survey: “ABIR members look forward to gaining greater clarity on the full impact of the CIT, as the Tax Reform Commission’s recommendations on reforms including tax credits are considered by Parliament. Reducing Bermuda’s cost of doing business is critical to create a more favourable environment for job retention and job creation for Bermudians.”

Likewise, Christian Dunleavy, chairman of the Association of Bermuda International Companies has warned of the impact of the CIT on Bermuda’s competitiveness. 

“We are in a perpetual race to enhance our value proposition and competitiveness while safeguarding our reputation, particularly with a diminished tax advantage,” Mr Dunleavy said at ABIC’s annual meeting in November. 

“In today’s world capital and people are incredibly mobile. Standing still is falling behind. As the saying goes, it’s OK to look backwards, just don’t stare. We need to continue to move Bermuda to the future.”

The analogy of the one-engined plane is probably even more apt today than it was when Mr Richards said it. 

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