BERMUDA Law and Practice Contributed by: Steven Rees Davies, Kyle Masters, Charissa Ball and Alexandra Fox, Carey Olsen
• an offence of being bribed (requesting, agree - ing to receive or accepting a financial or other advantage); and • an offence of bribing foreign public officials. In addition, there is also a corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery that applies to cor - porate bodies and partnerships incorporated and formed in Bermuda. This is a strict liability offence, with only one possible defence – the organisation will have to prove that it had “ade- quate procedures” in place designed to prevent persons who are associated with it from brib - ing. The Bermuda government has published the Bribery Act 2016 Guidance, in which the prin - ciples concerning what amounts to “adequate procedures” are set out. Electronic Transactions Act 1999 The Electronic Transactions Act 1999 introduced – among other benefits – a statutory recognition of the validity of digital/electronic records and, subject to certain criteria being met, signatures applied to such records. 2.12 Review of Industry Participants by Parties Other than Regulators Traditional financial service industry sectors in Bermuda have all been actively involved in the development and implementation of complimen - tary financial and non-financial services to the growing fintech sector. Banking Bermuda’s banking laws were amended in 2018, with the introduction of the Banks and Deposit Companies Amendment Act 2018 (the “Banks Amendment Act” ), which sought to open up the banking market by providing relief from certain local banking requirements (eg, retail banking services) in return for restricting services to the fintech sector. This provided a balance between
positive new competition and the protection of existing traditional retail banking services. Financial Auditing DABA licensees must have their financial state - ments audited annually. The BMA is cognisant of the influence of global events on the appetite of the established audit firms for auditing this sector and, as such, financial audits may be conducted by regulated audit firms registered in Bermuda or in other jurisdictions that are recog - nised as following the same or similar account - ing standards as approved by the BMA. Other Service Providers Bermuda has seen an increased interest in per - sons seeking to provide all manner of financial and non-financial services to the fintech sector, including AML/ATF compliance, accounting, custodial, fund management and administration, legal and corporate services. 2.13 Conjunction of Unregulated and Regulated Products and Services DABA licensees or issuers authorised under the DAIA are not expressly prohibited from conducting unregulated business. However, in each case, the licensed/authorised entity must ensure that its regulated business is conducted in a prudent manner. Accordingly, any unregu - lated activities will need to be assessed from the perspective of how they affect the regulated activities of the DABA licensee or issuer. 2.14 Impact of AML and Sanctions Rules See 2.11 Implications of Additional, Non-Finan - cial Services Regulations . 2.15 Financial Action Task Force Standards Bermuda is a member of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) – an associate mem -
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