Bermuda's Government.
Bermuda is a parliamentary representative democracy. It has a multiparty system, and the Premier is the head of the government. Bermuda is the oldest self-governing British Overseas territory but still maintains internal autonomy. The Parliament consists of two chambers: The House of Assembly and the Senate. The monarch appoints the governor. Currently, Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the state of Bermuda, and Ewart Brown is the Premier of Bermuda. The judicial system has a reputation for being non-biased and protects businesses' property and peoples' civil rights. The Bermuda government is the largest employer in the country, and the largest spender and revenue earner.
Bermuda's Offshore Center and Financial Products.
Bermuda is famous for its offshore financial center, which was partly built on its low direct taxation on corporate and personal income. While Bermuda is an offshore international business and financial center, it is not an international banking center. Foreign banks are allowed to register and to operate in Bermuda but it is illegal for them to register or operate as banks. There are four main banks and only one local bank. The largest bank is Bank of Bermuda (HSBC). It holds about 47 percent of the local banking market. The next three are Butterfield Bank Limited, Bermuda Commercial Bank (BCB), and Capital G Bank Limited.
Due to the country's favorable tax system and its highly reactive regulatory framework, Bermuda is the domicile choice for insurance-related innovative solutions known as Alternative Risk Transfer (ART). Most of these techniques permit investors in the capital markets to take a direct role in providing insurance and reinsurance protection, and as such the field of alternative risk transfer is brining about a convergence of insurance and financial markets. A huge sector of alternative risk transfer activity is risk securitization including reinsurance sidecars and catastrophe bonds. In addition, a number of approaches that are popular in Bermuda involve funding risk transfer, often within the structures of the reinsurance market. A large number of multinational insurance companies are based in Bermuda, making the country one of the world's largest reinsurance centers.
The Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) is the world's largest fully electronic offshore securities market, with a current market capitalization that exceeds $300 billion. There are over four hundred securities listed on the stock exchanges, and nearly three hundred offshore funds that have become attractive investments. The BSX specializes in trading capital maket instruments such as debt issues, hedge funds, depository receipt programmers and equities.
There are many financial offshore services and independent investment centers in Bermuda that can aid their clients in strategically build their portfolios. One of the most popular investments in Bermuda are mutual funds. Bermuda is connected with the largest mutual fund companies in the world, from Globefund to Fidelity. Bermuda's financial service providers are able to speak directly with mutual fund executives and service to acquire indepth information on their investments and strategies. Many of these companies are also connected with more than 40 mutual fund companies with over 800 unique funds between them. Bermuda's financial services industry, especially their mutual funds sector, can add valuable and sustainable section to one's portfolio.
Investing in Bermuda's real estate has been highly profitable, and is expected to become more lucrative in the next few years. For overseas buyers, Bermuda is a clever alternative since real estate prices have historically not fluctuated as much as they have in the United States and Europe. The condominiums market has grown at an average of 18% in 2009 and 2010. In addition, 2010 showed 300 percent increases in houses that were put under contract the year before they were built. The government implemented a policy in 2005 that stipulated that non- Bermudians are eligible to buy property but only from other non-Bermudian owners. This is another reason why the real estate in Bermuda is increasing at an unprecedented rate. The key to buying a home or a condominium in Bermuda, is to find online website that has Bermuda homeowners trying to sell their homes.
Bermuda's tax regime is highly efficient for many Western companies. Due to their use of Bermuda, Google saved $3.1 billion in taxes between 2007 and 2008 and lowered its income tax rate to 2.4%. According to a study commissioned by Global Unions, an international union organization based in Belgium, Bermuda was identified as a financial center that "specializes insupplying financial services to nonresident companies and individuals in exchange for low taxes, stability and secrecy."
China's Opportunities In Bermuda's Offshore Center Dr. Adam Wu, the COO of the China Business Network (CBN), said China has more millionaires than any other country in the world besides the United States. That is why the Chinese government and some people can afford to invest big money in projects like Baha Mar in the Bahamas. Dr. Wu stressed that Chinese investors can find lucrative opportunities in Bermuda's tourist and hotel industries as it continues to expand and boom in the years ahead.
"I recognized that there was a gap between inbound and outbound tourism between Bermuda and China as well as deficit between foreign direct investment between China and Bermuda", said Mr. Scott Pearman, the founder of the Sino- Bermuda Exchange. "China has been investing quite heavily in the Caribbean over the last several years, including a nearly $3 billion project in the Bahamas."
Bermuda has an overwhelming number of companies that are able to help Chinese investors invest in private equity finds, broker-deals, trust companies, insurance companies, hedge funds, real estate, and find a more efficient tax framework. Americans, Canadians and the British still primarily use Bermuda's offshore center. But everybody's money is good in Bermuda. As more Chinese investors learn about the lucrative opportunities in Bermuda, we can expect to see a flood of Chinese investors flying to Bermuda to explore new investment opportunities.
