Building a foundation for the future

Bermuda received more than half a billion dollars in foreign direct investment in 2023 and is looking to do more as an investment promotion agency in 2024, writes David Hart, chief executive officer of the Bermuda Business Development Agency.

2023 has been a productive and rewarding year for the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA) as we are currently working with investors representing actualised and potential investments valued at $560 million, creating 200 new jobs. Our team is encouraged by the level of inward foreign direct investment and the economic impacts being created by our efforts.

We began the year by announcing we had hired Kendaree Burgess as our new chief operating officer. To ensure we continued to deliver on our core mission, one of her primary tasks when she began in March 2023 was to create, enhance and review the BDA’s operational systems and frameworks. As a result of our review, which was championed by our board of directors and endorsed by the Ministry of Economy & Labour, it was announced in November that the BDA will aim to become a best-in-class investment promotion agency (IPA). 

While our journey to becoming an IPA has only just begun, we look forward to taking the organisation to the next level and delivering even more for the people of Bermuda at the start of our next fiscal year beginning April 1, 2024.

As well as working hard to improve operational efficiencies at home, this year the BDA travelled overseas alongside our valued stakeholders, holding 11 business development missions to countries as far afield as Mexico and Singapore in order to tell the Bermuda story and forge new partnerships.

We have also been busy organising signature on-Island events aimed at highlighting Bermuda’s competitive strengths and held three of our signature events in 2023: the second Bermuda Risk Summit in March, our second Bermuda Climate Summit in June and our fifth Bermuda Tech Summit in October.

“The BDA was extremely gratified to see BermudAir launching as the first Bermuda-based airline with year-round service for business class visitors.”

The immediate economic impact of these events—including accommodation, transportation, food and beverage, retail and recreation—was estimated at $3.2 million and supported 686 local jobs. Far more significant were the long-term economic benefits brought about by the business deals being written at and around our event.

In addition to the BDA’s own signature events, we supported numerous in-person on-Island conferences within our five targeted pillars, including: Legal Week Private Client Global Elite Exchange Bermuda and Transcontinental Trusts International Conference Bermuda in July; World Federation of Exchanges Global Assembly, Bermuda International Long Term Insurers and Reinsurers (BILTIR) conference, and Bermuda Captive Conference in September; ILS Convergence, and Insurance Risk and Capital Bermuda Conference in October; and STEP Bermuda Conference in November.

“Bermuda is the perfect location for new businesses in our five strategic priority sectors.” David Hart, BDA

“The BDA was extremely gratified to see BermudAir launching as the first Bermuda-based airline with year-round service for business class visitors.”

New business welcome

A key message that we continue to relay to the high-level prospects we meet overseas and at home is that Bermuda is the perfect location for new businesses in our five strategic priority sectors: risk and insurance; asset management/climate risk solutions; high net worth services (including Economic Investment Residential Certificates [EIRCs]); technology; and infrastructure.

At the same time, we remind potential applicants of Bermuda’s EIRC initiative that for a minimum investment of $2.5 million, they and their families can receive residency rights to see their investment prospects realised. Since its inception in April 2021, the BDA has been the sole concierge and marketing source for the EIRC, formerly EIC, which to date, has generated over $450 million in investments and resulted in more than 110 new Bermuda residents.

In June, we welcomed Grainne Richmond, EVP, head of captives at Aon Insurance Managers (Bermuda) to our board. She took over as Audit and Risk Committee chair from Fiona Beck, who rotated off the board effective March 31, having completed seven years at the BDA.

Beck is now an advisor to Google, which in September announced plans to launch a new submarine network cable, Nuvem, which will go from the US to Portugal via Bermuda.

The BDA and government have long promoted Bermuda as a digital hub of the Atlantic, and we are excited to see these efforts translate into positive wins for the local economy.

In addition to news about Google, in August the BDA was extremely gratified to see BermudAir launching as the first Bermuda-based airline with year-round service for business class visitors. BermudAir has been a client of the BDA since its inception, and we look forward to supporting its continued success.

“As of Q2 2023, there were 806 Bermuda-registered funds.”

Healthy funds

Bermuda’s financial services sector continues to grow. As of Q2 2023, there were 806 Bermuda-registered funds, with a net asset value (NAV) of $291.2 billion, up from 799 funds with an NAV of $219.6 billion in Q4 2021. In December, another of our clients, Irbisio, announced it was launching a new Bermuda-based fund to provide a platform for investing in clean technology infrastructure with an initial target of $100 million to be deployed in two years.

In the risk space, the Bermuda Monetary Authority had registered 55 new insurers and insurance intermediaries, as of October 2023, with the most active months for new registrations still to come. Major overseas securities markets also see the value of Bermuda insurers and reinsurers, with successful initial public offerings being held this year for Hamilton and Fidelis.

The number of digital asset businesses grew from 16 to 24, with notable additions such as Coinbase setting up operations here within our growing tech ecosystem due to the regulatory and legal certainty we provide.

The BDA looks forward to growing from strength to strength in 2024 as a best-in-class IPA delivering even more for our valued stakeholders and Bermuda.

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