December 17, 2025

2025/26 SESSION of the
BERMUDA SENATE
OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT
17 DECEMBER 2025
Sitting number 17 of the 2025/202 6 Session
(pages 621–650)
Sen. The Hon. Jo an E. D illas-Wright, M BE, JP
President
Disclai
mer: The el
ectronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for
infor
mational purposes only. The printed version remains the official
record.

Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 621

Bermuda Senate BERMUDA SENATE
OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT
17 DECEMBER 2025
10:06 AM
Sitting Number 17 of the 2025/26 Session


[Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright , President , presid-
ing]

The President: Good morning, Senators.
The Senate is in session.
Shall we pray?

PRAYERS
[Prayers read by Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright ,
President ]

The President: Please be seated.

CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
[10 December 2025]

The President: Confirmation of t he Minutes of the 10th
of November [sic] 2025. I call on Vice President, John
Wight.
You have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President . I
think that it’s the 10th of December .
I move that the Minutes of the meeting of
Wednesday, 10 December 2025 be taken as read.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Sen. John Wight: Madam President, I move that the
Minutes of Wednesday, 10 December 2025 be con-
firmed .
The President : Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Minutes are confirmed.
[Minutes of 10 December 2025 confirmed]

The President: Thank you, Vice President, John
Wight.

MESSAGE FROM HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
The President: Mrs. Beale.

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS
The Deputy Clerk: I actually do have one message
Madam President and it is from the Honourable House
of Assembly and it reads,
To the Honourable the President and Members
of the Senate:
The Members of the Honourable House of As-
sembly desire to extend to the President and Members
of the Senate our greetings and best wishes for Christ-
mas and the New Year.

The President: Thank you, Ms. Beale, for reading that
message.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES

The President: There are none.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
The President: Senators, we have a few announce-
ments and the first is in the name of . . .
Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you Madam
President.
If you will indulge, I actually have four —
The President: Yes, Minister Caesar .

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: —and I will make those
announcements all at once as opposed to individually.
The President: Please proceed.

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.

BERMUDA PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD
(BPAB) —ANNUAL REPORT FOR 31 MARCH 2024

BERMUDA PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD
(BPAB) —ANNUAL REPORT FOR 31 MARCH 2025

BERMUDA PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD
(BPAB) —AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR 31 MARCH 2024

BERMUDA PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD
(BPAB) —AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR 31 MARCH 2025

622 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Madam President, I
hereby present for the information of the Senate, the
Bermuda Public Accountability Board (BPAB) —Annual
Report [for 31 March 2025 ], the Bermuda Public Ac-
countability Board (BPAB) —Audited Financial State-
ments for the year ending 31 March 2025, Bermuda
Public Accountability Board (BPAB) —Annual Report
[for 31 March 2024 ], and the Bermuda Public Account-
ability Board (BPAB) —Audited Financial Statements
for the year ending 31 March 2024. Senators may ac-
cess copies on their tablets and/ or the Parliament web-
site.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Crystal C aesar,
Spokesperson for Finance.
And the other . . .

[Pause]

The President: I believe t he other announcement s are
in the name of Senator Lauren Bell, the Junior Minister
for Economy and Labour.
Senator Bell, you have the floor.

LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (FORMS)
AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2025
Sen. Lauren Bell: Thank you and good morning,
Madam President, Senate colleagues and listening au-
dience.
I hereby present for the information of the Sen-
ate, the Limited Liability Company ( Forms ) Amendment
Regulations 2025 as made by the Minister of Finance
in exercise of the power conferred by s ection 255 of the
Limited Liability Company Act 2016.

The President: Thank you . . . and I believe you hav e
. . .

Sen. Lauren Bell: Yes, Madam President, I have three
more announcements.

The President: Please do.

COMPANIES (FORMS) AMENDMENT RULES 2025
Sen. Lauren Bell: I hereby present for the information
of the Senate, the Companies (Forms) Amendment
Rules 2025 , as made by the Minister of Finance in ex-
ercise of the power conferred by s ection 288 of the
Companies Act 1981.

BENEFIT ENTITIES ACT 2025
COMMENCEMENT DAY NOTICE 2025
Sen. Lauren Bell: Madam President, in addition, I
hereby present for the information of the Senate, the
Benefit Entities Act 2025 Commencement Day Notice 2025 , as made by the Minister of Finance in exercise of
the power conferred by s ection 9 of the Benefit Entities
Act 2025.

REGISTRY GENERAL ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE
YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024 —BIRTHS,
MARRIAGES, DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS
AND DEATHS

Sen. Lauren Bell: And finally, Madam President, I
hereby present for the information of the Senate, the
Annual Report of the Registry General for the year
ended 31st December 2024, in accordance with sec-
tion 19 of the Registration ( Births and Deaths ) Act
1949. Senators may access copies of these announce-
ments on their tablets and/or the Parliament website.
The President: Thank you, Senator Bell, the Junior
Minister of Economy and Labour.
And I think the final announcement is in the
name of Senator Mischa Fubler .
Senator Fubler , you have the floor.

WATER RESOURCES (POLLUTION, DISCHARGE
REPORTING, ABATEMENT AND REMEDIATION)
REGULATIONS 2025
Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President .
I hereby present for the information of the Sen-
ate, t he Water Resources ( Pollution , Discharge Report-
ing, Abatement and Remediation) Regulations 2025,
as made by the Minister responsible for the Environ-ment in exercise of the p ower conferred by s ection 39,
as read with Part VIII of the Water Resources Act 1975.
Senators may access copies on their tablets and/ or the
Parliament website.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Mischa Fubler.

NOTICE S OF MOTION S
The President: There are none.

PETITIONS
The President: There are none.

STATEMENTS

The President: There are none.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

The President: There are none.

FIRST READING OF PUBLIC BILLS

Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 623

Bermuda Senate LAND VALUATION AND TAX
AMENDMENT ACT 2025

BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT ACT 2025

BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP AMENDMENT ACT 2025

INSURANCE AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2025

The President: Senator s, the following Public Bills
have been received from the Honourable House of As-
sembly and are now read for the first time.
Their titles are, respectivel y: the Land Valua-
tion and Tax Amendment Act 2025, the Bermuda Mon-
etary Authority Amendment Act 2025, the Beneficial
Ownership Amendment Act 2025, and the Insurance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2025. And Senators, these
Public Bills will be taken up on our Orders of the Day
later in the meeting.

FIRST READING OF PRIVATE BILLS

The President: There are none.

QUESTION PERIOD

The President: There are none.

ORDERS OF THE DAY
The President: And that brings us to the Orders of the
Day.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITORS

The President: And before we resume with [the Orders
of the Day] , I would just like to welcome and announce
Mr. George Outerbridge as well as Mr. Anthony King,
who are from the Register of Companies. Welcome to you both.

[Orders of the Day, continuing]

The President: The first O rder of t he Day is the second
reading of the Land [Valuation ] and Tax Amendment
Act 2025, and that is in the name of Senator the Hon-
ourable Crystal C. Caesar, Minister of Education and
Spokesperson on Finance.
I am sorry . . . I believe that will be taken over
by Senator Mis cha Fubler.
[Senator] Mischa Fubler, you have the floor.

Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President.
Sorry, just to, you know, in the spirit of community and the holiday season and assisting those in need, we
have decided to ease up the M inister.

[Laughter]

Sen. Mischa Fubler: She has several Bills today —

The President: Yes.
Sen. Mischa Fubler: —and to save her voice for the
holiday season, we will be sharing the load, as it were.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Mischa Fubler: And so in that regard, Madam
President, I would like to move that the provisions of
Standing Order 25 be granted so that the Senate may now proceed with the second reading of the Bills enti-
tled the Land V aluation and Tax Amendment Act 2025,
the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2025, the Beneficial Ownership Amendment Act 2025,
and Insurance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2025.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
You may . . . please continue.

[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Land Valuation
and Tax Amendment Act 2025, the Bermuda Monetary
Authority Amendment Act 2025, the Beneficial Owner-
ship Amendment Act 2025, and Insurance Amendment
(No. 2) Act 2025 to be read a second time on the same
day as their first readings .]
Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President. I
am honoured to present to this Honourable House . . .
Oh, sorry. Apologies. I am getting ahead of myself here,
Madam President .
I move that the B ill entitled the Land Valuation
and Tax Amendment Act 2025 be now read a second
time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

LAND VALUATION AND TAX
AMENDMENT ACT 2025
Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President.
As I said, I am honoured to present this Land
Valuation and Tax Amendment Act 2025 for its second
reading.
This Bill represents a significant and long over-
due modernisation of the way that information is col-lected during a revaluation which underpins the land
624 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate valuation framework that has guided Bermuda's land
tax system for nearly six decades. The amendments
proposed today ensure that our data collection pro-cesses reflect the realities of the 21st century, support
efficient government operations, and provide taxpayers with accessible and equitable service.
Madam President, the [land] valuation list is the
foundation upon which our land taxation system rests. It establishes the annual rental values [ARVs] for every
property across the I sland. These ARVs form the basis
on which land tax is assessed. In the upcoming fiscal year 2025/ 26, land tax revenue [ from] the 2015 valua-
tion list is projected at $ 87 million dollars, representing
roughly 6.1 per cent of total government revenue. Such
a critical revenue source must be underpinned by a leg-
islative framework that is modern, efficient, and able to
meet the needs of a digital society.
The last full valuation list, Madam President,
was completed in 2015. The 2020 valuation was post-
poned due to pandemic uncertainties, and earl ier this
year this House agreed to a further postponement of
the 2025 quinquennial , or five -year yearly revaluation,
to enable essential legislative reform. As a result, the
next draft valuation list is now scheduled for deposit on
31 December 2026. This gives the Government an op-
portunity, and indeed the responsibility, to update out-
dated statutes that no longer support an efficient valu-
ation process.
Madam President, the Land Valuation Depart-
ment performs a substantial and highly technical task. The quinquennial revaluation requires the department
to gather and analyse data from approximately 37,000
valuation units. Historically, this process has relied al-
most entirely on paper, printed revaluation return forms mailed to taxpayers, manual completion by property
owners, and data manually entered into the depart-
ment's system s by staff or temporary hires.
This paper -based approach has several disad-
vantages.
1. Time-consuming data entry reduces the time
available for the department to analyse valua-tion trends.
2. High administrative costs, including printing,
mailing, temporary staffing, and overtime av-erage approximately $100,000 per revaluation
cycle.
3. Inefficiencies and transcription errors reduce
the accuracy of the valuation model .
4. Barriers for taxpayers who must physically re-
ceive , complete, and return paper forms.
Madam President, these methods are relics of
1967. They do not reflect the tools available today, nor
the expectations of a modern and digital ly engaged
population.
The amendments in this Bill therefore enable
the department to adopt digital forms, electronic no-
tices, and streamlined methods of data submissions
that will save time, reduce costs, and significantly im-
prove the quality of the submitted valuation data. Digital submission is not only a convenience. It is a fundamen-
tal step in ensuring that Bermuda's valuation system re-
mains fair, transparent, and capable of supporting sus-
tainable public finance.
Madam President , the Government has made
a firm commitment to modernise public services
through digital transformation. The shift to electronic
notices and online revaluation return forms directly sup-
ports this national agenda. Under the amended legisla-
tion, taxpayers will be able to complete their revaluation return forms online at any time, from anywhere in the
world, using any device. The system will be secure,
cloud- based, and supported by encryption and privacy
safeguards.
This represents an improved, more user -
friendly approach to interacting with government. How-
ever, Madam President, modernisation must never
come at the expense of accessibility. Many of our sen-
iors, vulnerable residents , and individuals without digi-
tal access must still be able to fully participate in the
revaluation process. This Government is absolutely
committed to ensuring that no one is left behind. To that
end, departmental officers will be trained to assist indi-
viduals in person, by phone, and by em ail. The depart-
ment will partner with Age Concern Bermuda to help
seniors understand and complete the digital forms. In-
dividuals who cannot complete the form themselves
may be assisted by a family member , friend, or depart-
ment officer. This approach balances modernisation
with compassion. It reflects our belief that digital gov-
ernment must remain an inclusive government.
To ensure broad awareness during the transi-
tion, a one- time Island -wide mailing address ed To the
Occupier will accompany public notices in The Official
Gazette and daily newspapers. A comprehensive com-
munication strategy including television, radio, and so-
cial media will ensure that every resident understands
their role, responsibilities, and options. Madam Presi-
dent, several provisions within the existing Act no
longer serve the needs of a modern society.

Outdated Notice Requirements

Sen. Mischa Fubler: The Act requires that physical no-
tices and paper revaluation return forms be mailed to
each taxpayer. This is no longer practical or necessary.
The amendments allow for service of notices through publication in The Official Gazette and also daily local
newspaper s for two consecutive weeks , directing tax-
payers to an online portal. This change streamlines the
administrative process while preserving transparency
and public awareness.

Restriction s on Submitting Forms
Sen. Mischa Fubler: The current Act only allows for
hand delivery or registered post to serve documents on the director . This is unnecessarily restrictive. The
amendments now permit electronic submission
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 625

Bermuda Senate consistent with modern communication practi ces and
government ’s sustainabili ty goals.

Hard Copy Valuation Lists in Every Post Office

Sen. Mischa Fubler: Since 1999, the valuation list has
been available online and updated nightly requiring a
printed copy of the draft valuation list in every post of-
fice for public inspection. Despite the list being dynamic
and frequently updated, it is inefficient and outdated.
These copies often become damaged or removed
shortly after replacement.
Under the amendments, the requirement to de-
posit printed copies at all post offices will be removed. A single printed copy will remain available for inspec-
tion at the department's office. The online list will re-
main accessible to all and updated regularly.
Madam President, these reforms reduce un-
necessary administrative burdens, improve efficiency,
and ultimately enhance the accuracy and fairness of
the valuation process. They also reduce environmental waste, significantly lower re valuation costs, and posi-
tion government for long- term digital readiness.
Madam President, in conclusion, the Land Val-
uation and Tax Amendment Act 2025 is more than a technical adjustment to a long- standing statute. It is a
forward- looking reform that acknowledges how Ber-
muda has changed and must continue to change to re-main competitive, responsive, and fiscally responsible.
By embracing digital processes, improving public ac-
cessibility, reducing inefficiencies, and removing out-
dated statutory requirements, we strengthen the very
foundation of our land taxation system. These reforms
will support a more accurate, timely, and cost -effective
revaluation in 2026 and in every cycle thereafter. A
strong valuation system ensures fairness for property owners, protects the integrity of government revenue, and reinforces the principle that every taxpayer contrib-
utes based on a transparent and equitable assess-
ment.
Madam President, this Bill reflects the Govern-
ment's commitment to modernise public administration,
improve service delivery for all residents, reduce oper-
ating costs and administrative burdens , and build a tax
system that is fair, accurate, and sustainable.
With these remarks, I respectfully move . . . oh,
no, I don't do that yet.
Thank you, Madam President.
[Laughter]

The President: Thank you, Senator Mischa Fubler .
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Yes, Senator Victoria Cunningham, you have
the floor.

Sen. Victoria Cunningham: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident, and thank you to the J unior Minister who, I guess, has Cabinet Office and D igital Innovation. So, I thank
him for his presentation.
The Opposition is supportive of this Bill, and it
is great to see digital transformation actually being
elaborated on and how it is benefiting the public and,
obviously, our taxpayers.
I think one of my questions . . . well, my only
question is about public outreach and our taxpayers un-derstanding fully the new processes. So, it has gone
from, obviously, paper -based to digital. And so, you
know, obviously, we have an ageing population, 25 per
cent over the age of 65 by possibly the end of this year
or next year. So, how are we ensuring that everyone is
aware of these changes?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Yes, Senator John Wight , Vice Presi-
dent, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I think, yes , I think this amendment Act is long
overdue. I am fully supportive of it. It obviously im-
proves efficiency and brings this manual process into
the 21st century for Bermuda. So, I am fully supportive
of it.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Vice President John Wight .
Would any other S enator . . . yes, Senator Dion
Smith, you have the floor.

Sen. Dion Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
I just wanted to verify or understand if the host-
ing of the application was in Bermuda or some other jurisdiction.
Thank you.
The President: Thank you.
Yes, Senator Fubler , you have a number of
questions. You can respond when you are ready.
Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President.
And so, to the first question from Senator Cun-
ningham around how we will make people aware, I will
refer back to the statement around T he Official Gazette
as well as daily newspapers. The daily newspaper is
going to have notices printed for two weeks. There will
also be a combined communication strategy from both
the department as well as the Department of Commu-nications and Information. I imagine that would involve
both traditional and social media.
And also, as mentioned in the Statement, the
mass mailing of the flyer To the Occupier . And so, for
all of you at home, I encourage you to check that mail-box. I know here in Bermuda, we are lucky in compari-
son to some of our neighbours. You find the mailbox
inundated with advertisements. I think relatively few of
those seem to arrive at my home, at least. And in that
regard, it should be relatively easy to identify the mailer.
626 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Also, my understanding is that the land tax no-
tice will include information that, you know, the valua-
tion is happening this year. I think people generally re-
ceive those as well twice a year.
And then to Senator Smith's question around
hosting. I had a similar enquiry. And so, the hosting is
done in an online partnership with a platform called
GovPilot. So, it is hosted in the cloud, not in Bermuda.
And let me just see if I have in my response
from the technical officer s where it is specifically . . . no.
Yes, it is specifically hosted in New Jersey. And not to
anticipate supplementary questions, but I would also
like to highlight that the vendor is SOC 2 T ype II com-
pliant, as I know that is something that many of us in
the IT space would be concerned about in regard to
hosting personal information or at least private infor-
mation.
And I believe that was all the questions from
the Senators. Madam President, I will leave the space
now [in case] either has supplementary [questions] .
The President: Senators, are there any more ques-
tions regarding this Bill?
No.
Senator Fubler , I think you have full support.

Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President.
And in that case, I move that [Standing Order] 26 be
suspended in respect of . . . Oh, sorry. Apologies.
Madam President, I move that this Bill be now
read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Mischa Fubler: Madam President, I now move
that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect of
this Bill.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President.
I therefore move that the Bill entitled the Land
Valuation and Tax Amendment Act 2025 be now read
a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third read-
ing?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING
LAND VALUATION AND TAX
AMENDMENT ACT 2025
Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President.
I move that the Bill do no w pass.

The President: It has been moved that the B ill do no w
pass.
Is there any objection to the pass age of the
Bill?
No objection. The Bill has passed.

[Motion carried: The Land Valuation and Tax Amend-
ment Act 2025 was given a third reading and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Senator Mischa Fubler ,
and thank you all Senators who have participated.

Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Moving on then with our next agenda
on the O rders of the D ay, and that is the second read-
ing of the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act
2025, and that is in the name of Senator the Honoura-
ble Crystal C aesar, Minister of Education and Spokes-
person for Finance.
Senator, you have the floor.

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2025
be now read for a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT ACT 2025

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, I am pleased to present to
Senate the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment
Act 2025 (the Bill) . The Bill amends the Bermuda Mon-
etary Authority Act 1969 ( the BMA Act ), to
1. facilitate information sharing between the B er-
muda Monetary Authority (the Authority) and
the Bermuda Deposit Insurance Corporation
(BDIC);
2. revise the fees payable under the Fifth Sched-ule to ensure cost alignment with the supervi-
sion of Bermuda’s evolving insurance market ;
and
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 627

Bermuda Senate 3. make consequential amendments to the De-
posit Insurance Act 2011 to operationalise the
information- sharing framework and reinforce
coordinated crisis management between the Authority and BDIC.
Madam President, these amendments will
strengthen Bermuda's financial stability framework and
enhance the Authority's supervisory capacity, particu-
larly in relation to innovative insurance classes and in-
ternationally active insurance groups.
Madam President, section 31 (the Secrecy) of
the B ermuda Monetary Authority Act establishes the
Authority's power s to share information with other pub-
lic authorities for regulatory and supervisory [ pur-
poses ]. However, until now, this section did not ex-
pressly include the BDIC, the statutory body responsi-
ble for protecting depositors and maintaining confi-dence in Bermuda's banking system. The BDIC was
established under the Deposit Insurance Act 2011 in
response to lessons learned from the 2008 global fi-
nanci al crisis.
It provides protection of up to $25,000 per eli-
gible depositor and plays a key role in supporting bank-
ing stability. Effective coordination between the Author-
ity and the BDIC is essential for managing financial cri-
sis, protecting depositors, and maintaining public con-
fidence in the financial system. Currently, while the A u-
thority has seats on the BDIC Board of Directors, the
Authority's ability to share relevant supervisory data di-
rectly with the BDIC is limited. This Bill therefore estab-
lishes an explicit legal gateway for information ex-
change to ensure timely and effective coordination dur-ing a financial crisis.
The Bill also updates the Authority's fee struc-
ture in the Fifth S chedule of the BMA Act for certain
innovative insurers and insurance marketplace provid-
ers to better reflect the actual cost of regulation which
has not been revised since 2018. These changes are
informed by stakeholder feedback received through
public consultation and align Bermuda supervisory fees
with inter national norms.

Key Provisions of the Bill

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Clause 2 [is an]
amendment to section 31 of the BMA Act [the principal
Act]. Madam President, clause 2 of the B ill amends
section 31(1AA) of the BMA Act to expressly authorise
the Authority to share information with the BDIC.
Madam President, should a local banking crisis ever
arise, an effective response will require seamless com-
munication and information sharing between the A u-
thority and the BDIC.
The current legislative framework does not for-
mally establish an information- sharing gateway be-
tween these two entities. This amendment will serve to
mitigate the risk of delays in decision- making and align-
ment of activities in the midst of a crisis, thereby en-
hancing the resilience of Bermuda's financial system. Madam President, separately , but relatedly, it
is proposed that a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) be developed and mutually endorsed by the A u-
thority and the BDIC. This MOU will establish the
agreed parameters for information sharing encompass-ing various aspects such as the circumstances prompt-
ing information sharing with the BDIC , and the purview
and intent of the shared information.
Madam President, this amendment supports
improved depositor protection, alignment of activities and coordinated crisis management. It provides the statutory clarity need ed for the Authority and the BDIC
to exchange supervisory information while preserving
confidential ity requirements.
Clause 3, which is the amendment to Part C of
the Fifth Schedule, 2026 Fees of the BMA Act. Madam
President, this clause of the Bill revises the Fifth Sched-
ule of the BMA Act to update fees applicable to the var-
ious insurance entities regulated under the Insurance
Act 1978, particularly innovative insurance business
classes , Class IGB (insurance group general business )
and Class ILT (insurance group long- term business )
which are permitted to carry on their business in an in-
novative and experimental manner , and Class IIGB (in-
novative insurance group general business ) and Class
IILT (innovative insurance group long- term business )
which are permitted to carry on their business in an in-
novative manner as insurance marketplace providers .
Specifically, the amendments include increas-
ing registration fees and annual fees for innovative in-surers and marketplace providers to better reflect the
cost of oversight within these particular insurance sec-
tors and introduc ing an annual fee for internationally
active insurance groups (IAIGs) carrying on insurance
business calculated at $545,900 plus 0.002 per cent of
gross written premium subject to a cap of $1.249 mil-lion.
Madam President, regarding the proposed
IAIG fee intr oduction, the A uthority corresponded di-
rectly with the [Association ] of Bermuda Insurers and
Reinsurers (ABIR) as well as the only impacted insurer
to inform them of these changes even prior to consul-tation. Madam President, these adjustments provide
the Authority with adequate resources to continue its
rigorous overs ight of Bermuda's expanding and in-
creasingly complex insurance sector. Madam Presi-
dent, the Authority did not receive any feedback in re-
lation to these proposals during the consultation period.
Clause 4, which is the consequential amend-
ment to the Deposit Insurance Act 2011 . Madam Pres-
ident, clause 4 amends the Deposit Insurance Act 2011
to align the BDIC's statutory functions with those of the Authority and to enable reciprocal information sharing.
Specifically, the amendments updat e section 5 to clar-
ify that the BDIC's functions include improving deposi-
tor protection, ensuring alignment of activities, and co-
ordinating crisis management with the A uthority ; ad-
dress section 41 to permit the BDIC to exchange statu-tory information with the Authority, and insert new
628 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate confidentiality safeguards to protect information shared
between the two entities. These provisions collectively
establish a clear and controlled legal framework for in-formation exchange consistent with global best practi ce
for financial stability oversight.
Madam President, the proposals contained in
this Bill were subject to public consultation from the
24th of July to the 5th of September 2025. The consul-
tation process engaged industry stakeholders including ABIR, the Bermuda Bankers Association, and the BDIC
Board. The consultation paper was published on the
Authority's website on 5 September 2025 in a docu-
ment titled, “ Consultation Paper and Illustrative Draft –
Bermuda Monetary Authority Act 1969– Proposed
Amendments to General Powers and Fee- Related
Changes .” Madam President, the BDIC Board en-
dorsed the proposed amendments to the Deposit Insur-
ance Act 2011.
Madam President, the rationale and policy im-
pacts of these amendments are necessary to ensure a coordinated national response in the event of a banking
or a systematic crisis, strengthe n depository protection
and confidence in Bermuda's financial system, main-
tain the Authority's financial sustainability and supervi-
sory capability, and align Bermuda's legislative frame-
work with evolving international standards on cross -
sectoral regulatory cooperation and cost recovery.
Madam President, by modernising both the
BMA Act and the Deposit Insurance Act, Bermuda will
further entrench its reputation as a well -regulated and
resilient financial centre. Madam President, the provi-
sion of this Bill will take effect on 1 January 2026,
providing adequate time for industry transition while en-
suring that new and amended fees are in place for the
start of the 2026 calendar year.
Madam President, the Bill reflects this Govern-
ment's continued commitment to ensur ing a sound, sta-
ble, and well supervised financial system. By strength-
ening cooperation between the Authority and the BDIC
and ensuring the Authority has adequate resources to
execute its mandate, we continue to uphold Bermuda's
reputation for world- class financial regulation.
I wish to thank the B ermuda Monetary Author-
ity, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Bermuda De-
posit Insurance Corporation, t echnical officers in the
Ministry of Finance, and all stakeholders for their col-
laboration in developing this important legislation.
Thank you, Madam President .

The President: And thank you, Minister Caesar, the
Spokesperson for F inance in the Senate.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITORS

The President: And before I open the floor to questions
on this Bill, I would just like to acknowledge and wel-
come the team of persons from the [Bermuda] Monetary Authority who are here to assist the Minister
this morning.

[Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2025,
second reading debate, continuing]

The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator Cunningham, you have the floor —Op-
position Leader in the Senate, I will add.

Sen. Victoria Cunningham: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident, and thank you for that presentation on the Ber-
muda Monetary Amendment Act.
Again, the O pposition is in agreement with this
Bill, obviously seeing general increases in the fees and
the information sharing between the BMA and the
BDIC. One question is about the information being
shared and how it will be ensured that any security and
privacy is maintained and what safeguards are going to
be put in place for that . And also, whether the, I think
you said the January 1 timeline for implementation is
actually realistic given the entities needing to comply
with this.
And I think that is everything. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Cunningham.
Senator Taw ana Tannock , you've indicated
you have questions. The floor is yours.

Sen. Tawana Tannock: Thank you, Madam President.
Yes, thank you. My question is relating first in
part to [clause] 3, which amends the Fifth S chedule.
Can we get an explanation? So, there are some vari-
ants, from $1,000 to $1,500 to $3,000 in some in-
stances of increases. Can we get an explanation of how
those increases ( that vary greatly ) were apportioned
and why it was determined that, for instance, like I said, in some instances we are going up $5,000, in others
$1,000, in others $1,500? So, can we get a break-
down?
I know we spoke about the increas ing cost in
monitoring and regulation, but, of course, costs are in-
creasing for businesses as well. And so, the last thing
that businesses want are arbitrary increases. So, can
we get an explanation of how figures were allotted to
specific increases , given that there is such variance?

The President: Senator John Wight , Vice President,
you have the floor.
Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I just want to comment on the process. I just
want to thank the Minister for the extensive consultative
process that has taken place with all the affected lobby
groups and stakeholders. So, I think this is the type of
consultation that is so important for important amend-ments like this. So , I just want to . . . I am in full support
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 629

Bermuda Senate of the amendments . And I just want to thank the Minis-
ter for the process that has taken place to lead to this.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Vice President John Wight .
Would any other S enator care to speak on this
Bill?
Hearing none, then it is over to you, Minister.

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
I will just confirm with technical officers to gain
those answers and respond accordingly.

The President: Yes, indeed.
[Pause]

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
So, with regard to the first question about infor-
mation sharing and level of confidentiality, there are
confidentiality provisions within the Bill which will deter-
mine how and why information needs to be shared and
how it will be shared. So that is entrenched in the spe-cific Bill.
The second question with regard to the Janu-
ary 1 timeline and whether that's realistic in terms of the
implementation, since there has been consultation
since I believe July of this year, entities are aware that
these changes are coming. So they have had sufficient
time and obviously have agreed also during consulta-
tion to this being a feasible timeframe in order for them
to be able to meet that timeframe.
And the last question with regard to the vari-
ances in the different increases for different entities, the fees are linked to the time and effort taken to appropri-ately oversee the different classes of entit ies. And since
they have not changed for some time, there is a level of expertise baked into how those fees have been de-
termined.
So, I hope that those three questions have
been sufficiently answered, Madam President.

The President: Senators?
I observe no objection or hands raised.
So, Minister, I think you have answered the
questions that were posed. You can proceed.
Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, with that I move that the
Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2025 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26 Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
I move that [Standing Order] 20, excuse me,
[Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect of this Bill.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]
Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
I move that the Bill entitled the Bermuda Mon-
etary Authority Amendment Act 2025 be now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third read-
ing?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT ACT 2025

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
I move that the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill entitled
Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2025 do
now pass.
Is there an objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.
[Motion carried: The Bermuda Monetary Authority
Amendment Act 2025 was given a third reading and
passed.]
The President: Thank you, Minister, and thank you,
Senators.
We are now moving on to the third item on our
agenda, and that is the second reading of the Beneficial Ownership Amendment Act 2025, and that will be taken
under by the Attorney General, Minister Kim Wilkerson.
You have the floor.

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, Madam
President, and good morning to the members of the lis-tening public.
Madam President, I move that the provisions of
Standing Order 25 be suspended in relation to the Bill
entitled Beneficial Ownership Amendment Act 2025.

The President: I think . . . Mischa Fubler —

630 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Oh, Mischa did it on my
behalf.

[Crosstalk and laughter]

The President: That’s how he has helped you out this
morning.
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: So, I now move,
Madam President, that the B ill entitled Beneficial Own-
ership Amendment Act 2025 be read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, colleague
Mischa Fubler.

BILL

SECOND READING

BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP AMENDMENT ACT 2025
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Madam President, be-
fore this Senate is the Beneficial Ownership Amend-
ment [Act] 2025. This Bill follows the recently enacted
Beneficial Ownership Act 2025 (which for clarity I will
refer to as “ the Bill”) and provides for the Minister to
make amendments to the Beneficial Ownership Act 2025 (to which I will refer to as “the principal Act”).
Madam President, the Senate will recall that in
September 2025 the principal Act was passed in the
Legislature. Madam President, as a reminder to the
Senate, the principal Act, which is now in force, estab-
lished a legislative framework for a central register of
beneficial ownership information of companies by en-hancing Bermuda's previous beneficial ownership re-gime in accordance with the revised Financial Action
Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 24 and consoli-
dating that regime under the framework of a single Act to ensure that accurate and up- to-date beneficial own-
ership information is available to competent authorities
in a timely manner.
Madam President, since coming into force of
the principal Act, the Registrar of Companies as the
person designated with the responsibility of administer-ing the Beneficial Ownership Act has engaged closely
and constructively with industry stakeholders to support
effective implementation. As part of that engagement,
what emerged was that several industry participants
had identified certain challenges in the interpretation
and application of section 16 of the principal Act. The
Senate should note that a floor amendment was pro-
posed and passed in another place in relation to
clause 3, which repealed section 16 of the principal Act.
Madam President, it is the obvious question.
Why would the Government come back to repeal an entire section? And it is a good question. Upon normal registration, Madam President, the original s ection
would have operated as intended. However, upon ap-plication, industry discovered that certain commercial
transactions could be impeded. The only effective rem-
edy was to repeal the original section 16 and to recon-
sider how the gatekeeping function in relation to share-
holders may be reintroduced.
Madam President, there was extensive consul-
tation with industry stakeholders, including the proposal
to preserve the gatekeeping function. This matter was
included in the consul tation paper that was dissemi-
nated to industry stakeholders in January 2025. How-
ever, the operational challenges only came to light on
implementation of the Act.
Madam President, the Registrar of Companies
as the person designated with the responsibility of ad-
ministering the Beneficial Ownership Act has engaged
and continues to engage extensively and constructively
with industry .
Madam President, with those brief introductory
remarks, I now present the Bill , as amended in the
House, entitled the Beneficial Ownership Amendment
[Act] 2025 and I welcome comments from other Hon-
ourable Senators.
Thank you, Madam President .
The President: Thank you, Attorney General Kim
Wilkerson, Minister of Justice for presenting the Bill.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Tannock , you have the floor.

Sen. Tawana Tannock: Yes, thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
So, my question really is just one of a lack of
understanding or comprehension that I would just like
some clarity with. So, we are now saying that . . . what
is it? Okay, clause 2 , amend s section 15. It says : “Sec-
tion 15( 1) of the principal Act is amended by deleting
the words ‘ beneficial owners ’ and substituting the
words ‘registrable persons .’” However, if we then go to
look at the definition of “ registrable persons, ” we see
that that can also include a beneficial owner or relevant
legal entity.
So, I guess my question is , What is the purpose
of this amendment , clause 2, which amends section
15? W hat ill are we trying to cure?

The President: Thank you, Senator Tannock .
Would any other S enator care to ask questions
on this B ill?
Senator Victoria Cunningham, O pposition
Leader in the Senate, you have the floor.

Sen. Victoria Cunningham: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
And once again, this is a very good session for
you guys. We are in agreement with this proposed
amendment. Obviously, anything that continues to
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 631

Bermuda Senate benefit the jurisdiction, especially with our FATF stand-
ards is great.
My question is that you had the consultation
period and then obviously this has been amended
again. Has there been full agreement by industry on these proposed changes? Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Cunningham.
Senator John Wight , Vice President, you have
the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
Yes, I think this legislation does align Bermuda
with international standards, which is good. And obvi-ously, overall, the legislation over the last year has im-
proved transparency, which is important for Bermuda
continuing to be a global leader as it is.
I think there are certain changes that apply that
perhaps wouldn't have the full support of all companies.
I am certainly aware of more than one that is opposed
to it. But I think overall, it's good for the jurisdiction. And
that's the priority here, that it continues to align Ber-
muda with the top and most respected jurisdictions
globally.
So, with that, Madam President, I am fully sup-
portive of it. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Vice President John Wight .

[Pause]

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, Madam
President , and h earing no other questions, I will start
kind of at the back, if that's fine —

The President: For [Senator] Tannock?
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: —with the last com-
ment.

The President: Oh, sorry.

[Laughter]

The President: Senator John Wight. Sorry.

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: With Senator Wight’s —
and I think that you have clarified the overall reason that
we will continue to refine and make changes.
Certainly, Madam President and Members of
the Senate, when I was in London at the J oint Ministe-
rial Conference, the issue of beneficial ownership and
how the O verseas Territories are clarifying and meeting
the international and FATF standards was one of the
key issues, you know, on the table in those discussions.
So, these are efforts to meet international standards,
but also to continue to . . . you know, Bermuda has had
a transparent registry for . . . since the 1930s, I believe.
So, to continue to demons trate that while we have a transparent regime, that we continue to meet interna-
tional standards. And so, it may be true that not every
registered entity in our domicile will agree with the ap-
proach, and it is a thing of hitting the balance.
So, with that, I'll try to explain a little more for
Senator Tannock 's benefit and the benefit of the listen-
ing audience and Senate colleagues, what c lause 2 is
trying to do and why it could be problematic for some
and why we felt that this was the correct balance.
Clause 2 is amending s ection 15, requiring that
a legal person shall enter its beneficial ownership reg-ister—enter their minimum required information in re-
spect of every registerable person, and not just in re-
spect of its beneficial owners. I n its current form, our
section 15( 1) only requires that legal persons file the
minimum required information in respect of their bene-
ficial owners. Through inadvertence, section 15( 1)
does not require that legal persons also file the mini-
mum required information regarding the relevant legal
entities that form part of its ownership structure with the
Registrar of Companies.
It is important that legal persons be required to
file information on their chain of ownership or control so
that Bermuda continues to satisfy the obligations under
the FATF international standards. So, while this was
the original intent of the p rincip al Act as seen in s ection
10 of the Act, which requires that legal persons enter
into its beneficial ownership register the minimum re-
quired information, section 2 of the Act defines a regis-
trable person as a beneficial owner or relevant legal en-
tity. The Bill therefore proposes that section 15( 1) be
amended by deleting the term “ beneficial owners ” and
substituting with the term “ registrable persons. ” So that
is the idea of the change and why it was felt to be nec-
essary, Madam President.
I will go further. Clause 3 provides that s ection
16 of the princip al Act is repealed. As I said earlier, it
was amended on the floor of the House of Assembly on
the 12th of December 20 . . . it says 2024, [but it was]
2025. It was deleted and substituted with a new c lause
3 that repeals s ection 16 of the Act in its entirety.
Section 16, as it was previously written, had
generated potential challenges in its interpretation and
application. Section 16 created a statutory approval re-
gime for beneficial owners of legal persons. However,
during the course of further analysis and industry con-
sultation, it became apparent that the structure and op-
eration of section 16 in its entirety did not completely
align with the intent of the Beneficial Ownership Act and
wasn't workable in practi ce.
So, the repeal of section 16 removes a prob-
lematic approval regime and provides the opportunity
to develop a more coherent framework in respect to
Bermuda's gatekeeping function as it relates to share-
holder approval, a function that was previously gov-
erned under the Exchange Control Regime prior to en-
actment of the principal Act. I think the question from
Senator Cunningham, noting the full support across the
aisle, related to whether or not there was full
632 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate consultation. And the answer is that yes, consider that
there was full consultation.
Happy to take any supplementar ies though.

The President: Senator Wilkerson . . . sorry.

Sen. Tawana Tannock: Thank you, Madam President.
Senator Tannock.

The President: Senator Tannock. Yes. Sorry.

[Laughter]

Sen. Tawana Tannock: Oh, thank you, Attorney Gen-
eral, for that fulsome response.
So, I guess my question is, when we look at the
definition, the change of definition from “beneficial
owner ” to “registrable persons ” and widening the scope
of the persons that can be listed, s o in practi se, how
would this work?
If an entity goes down the list of beneficial own-
ers and designates a beneficial owner, right, because nobody earns more than 25 per cent or something like
that. Are we then saying that anybody who they could
have nominated now has to be registered as well, in addition to the person that they are actually registering
as the beneficial owner?

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, Senator
Tannock .
That is my understanding. But I have the tech-
nical officer in the room, so I am going to get the correct
answer.
[Laughter]
The President: Senator Tannock .

Sen. Tawana Tannock: Yes. My apologies for having
to ask a question and run, but as I indicated to Madam
President, I actually have to take a meeting, so I will be
listening upstairs to the response, but I didn't want to
appear rude that I was leaving after asking a question.

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: I think as Senator Tan-
nock is leaving, I did want to make the point that that is
the idea, to be able to have transparency through a chain of ownership.
The President: Mm-hmm.
And just for explanation, Senator Tannock did
indicate that she had an important call to make at this
time. So, she hasn't left the building; she has just gone
to deal with that in another room.
And I just also want to acknowledge the tech-
nical officers who are here to help to answer the ques-
tions.
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Madam President, if I
might take the liberty at this moment, I also notice our Chief Parliamentary Counsel in the room, Nalini
Salick—

The President: Yes, thank you.

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: —and she's here, and
she celebrated her birthday yesterday. So now all of Bermuda knows.

[Laughter and crosstalk ]

The President: I wish you many happy returns.
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: I wanted to commend
her, and obviously Gwen Johnson, who is in the room,
they have done yeoman's work.

The President: Yes.
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: We have been short -
staffed, and this team has had to bring through all of
the legislation necessary for us to meet the FATF re-
quirements and all of the financial legislation related to
corporate income tax. And so, I just wanted to, in this
place, in this room, commend them for the fine and hard work that they have done.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: And thank you, and we will all agree
with you, and to thank them.
[Pause]

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Okay, thank you,
Madam President.
Just to clarify, I think I had summarised it cor-
rectly, but the change allows for the filing of all registra-
ble persons, which are included in the beneficial own-
ership chain , and the relevant legal entities. As it was
previously, only the beneficial owners were required to
be filed on the register.
The President: Mm-hmm.
Senator John Wight , do you want to . . . you
have the floor .
Sen. John Wight: Just one further question, now that
I am just rereading the legal owners to identify benefi-
cial owners. The question is, is 25 per cent , if it is a re-
lated party, if two, so to give an example. If father and
son collectively own 25 per cent , but neither one indi-
vidually owns more than 25 per cent , is that considered
. . . are they together considered to have achieved the
threshold of 25 per cent ? I am just trying to understand
the practicality of it.

Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 633

Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Just to clarify the ques-
tion, you are saying if, in a family structure, two individ-
uals jointly hold the . . . more than 25 per cent owner-
ship?

Sen. John Wight: Right. So, neither one individually
owns more than 25 per cent , but collectively, they own
more than 25 per cent . Are they considered collectively
beneficial owners?

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: I would think collec-
tively, they would be, because that is the essence of
getting to the transparency question. It is . And I think
the further thing would be, how is that joint ownership structure identified? So, they may be behind it . . . Is it
a company? And . . . Exactly. Yes.
Sen. John Wight: That's helpful. Thank you very
much, Attorney General.
The President: Minister . . . Oh, Madam Attorney Gen-
eral, you have additional comments or responses?

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: I do not, Madam Pres-
ident. I thank colleagues for those questions, which cer-
tainly do help to clarify what the regime is doing and
why this is an important change, it having been made
on the floor in another place, Madam President.
So, with that, I now move that the Bill, Benefi-
cial Ownership Amendment Act 2025, be read a sec-ond time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, Madam
President.
I now move that [Standing Order] 26 be sus-
pended in respect of this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: I now move that the Bill
be read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third read-
ing?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING
BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP AMENDMENT ACT 2025
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: I now move that the Bill
be passed.

The President: It has now been moved that the Bill en-
titled Beneficial Ownership Amendment Act 2025 do now pass.
Is there any objection to the passage of the
Bill?
No objection. The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Beneficial Ownership Amendment
Act 2025 was given a third reading and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Madam Attorney General.

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, Madam
President . Thank you, colleagues.
The President: Senators, we will now move on to our
fourth and final O rder of the Day, and that is the second
reading of the Insurance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2025,
and that is in the name of Senator the Honourable Crys-
tal C aesar, Minister, the Spokesperson for Finance in
the Senate.

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.

The President: You have the floor.
Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Madam President, I
move that the B ill entitled the Insurance Amendment
(No. 2) Act 2025 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

INSURANCE AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2025

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
I am pleased to present to the Senate the Bill
entitled the Insurance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2025, (or
the Bill).
Madam President , this Bill amends the Insur-
ance Act 1978, (or the Insurance Act ), which seeks to
enhance the Bermuda Monetary Authority ’s (or the Au-
thority ) supervisory and enforcement powers over in-
surance groups under the purview of the Authority.
Madam President, the Authority was estab-
lished under the Bermuda Monetary Authority Act
1969, which mandates the Authority to act as an advi-
sor to the Minister of Finance on policy matters related
634 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate to any financial institution. This includes matters related
to the insurance industry.
Madam President, the Insurance Act 1978 pro-
vides the Authority with the licen sing, supervision, and
intervention powers to regulate the insurance industry in Bermuda. As such, the Authority regularly monitors
developments in the insurance industry to ensure that the powers conferred to it remain relevant, appropriate,
and aligned with international standards. Conse-quently, the A uthority may propose regulatory amend-
ments as necessary, with the objective of keeping the insurance supervisory regime effective and ensuring
that policyholders are protected.
Madam President, having identified an oppor-
tunity to strengthen the current group supervision re-
gime for the insurance industry, the Authority has pro-
posed amendments to the Insurance Act to facilitate a more direct approach to the supervision of insurance
groups operating in or from within Bermuda where the
designated current group supervision approach,
through the supervision of the designated insurer, is in-effective.
Madam President, the enhancement of insur-
ance group supervision is a topic of global importance. The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and its member jurisdictions, which includes Ber-
muda, have committed to monitoring, supervising, and promoting the management of risk s inherent to group
structures to support stable markets.
Madam President, insurance entities that are
members of financial groups can be affected and influ-enced by the decisions of non- regulated entities, in-
cluding the parent company of the group. For example, decisions related to investment allocations, intragroup transactions, and the quality of internal control systems
at the group level can affect the Bermuda- regulated in-
surance entity's ability to meet its own regulatory re-
quirements. This can ultimately impact its ability to meet the needs of policyholders .
Madam President, where there is a gap in reg-
ulatory supervision at the level of the ultimate parent
company of the group, which is the company that con-trols the operations of the entities within the group, and where that group has inadequate risk management systems, such a group can pose a threat to other oper-ating entities, which can impact financial stability and
the reputation of relevant jurisdictions. This threat can
be heightened by factors such as the size of the group
and the breadth of its operations.
Madam President, appreciating the risks that
insurance groups can pose to financial stability, the IAIS updated its 2011 Standards on Insurance Super-
vision or the Insurance Core Principles, ICPs, to incor-
porate standards for the supervision of significant insur-
ance groups. These additional standards were adopted
in 2019 and are called the Common Framework for the Supervision of Internationally Active Insurance Groups, or ComFrame, . . . which I will use going forward be-
cause that is quite a name. [Laughter]
Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: ComFrame facilitates
the effective supervision of large groups that have in-
surance operations across multiple jurisdictions.
Madam President, the Authority has adopted
these principles and has taken steps to meet the stand-
ards set out in ComFrame through the Insurance
Amendment Act 2023, which was passed by the House
on the 19th of May 2023. These amendments provided the Authority with the power to deem insurance groups
internationally active and made provision for the en-
hanced supervision of these groups.
Madam President, t he principles in ComFrame
require regulators to coordinate with other relevant su-pervisors to identify insurance groups and determine the scope of supervision. This includes identifying all legal entities that are Member s of the insurance group
inclusive of holding companies. In certain circum-stances the Authority 's supervisory regime for insur-
ance groups does not adequately capture holding com-panies. The changes proposed in this Bill seek to ad-
dress this.
Madam President, the proposals set out in the
Bill reflect the Authority's ongoing commitment to an ef-
fective supervision framework that is aligned with inter-national standards and with criteria upon which Ber-muda is assessed. The proposed changes seek to ad-
dress the risks posed by insurance groups that operate
in Bermuda and address gaps identified by the Author-
ity through its ongoing supervisory efforts and coordi-
nation with standards setters.
Madam President, the amendments primarily
seek to augment the Authority's supervisory powers in relation to insurance groups . The A uthority seeks to ac-
complish this by
1.clarifying when the Authority will be the groupsupervisor for a Bermuda insurance group;
2.introducing a designation process to allow theAuthority to designate insurance holding com-
panies as “designated insurance holding com-
panies,” for the purpose of applying group su-pervision in specified circumstances ;
3.enhancing supervision and enforcement pow-
ers to remove impediments to group supervi-sion; and,
4.applying material transaction pre- notification
requirements for insurance groups in cases of
amalgamations, mergers, or acquisitions ofother firms.Madam President, an insurance group super-
visor is responsible for coordinating with other relevant
supervisors of entities within the group to ensure that
there is sufficient regulatory oversight of the group's op-erations . The A uthority acts as the group supervisor for
insurance groups whose primary operations are con-trolled and managed from Bermuda. Currently, the Au-
thority supervises nearly 30 insurance groups, includ-
ing four internationally active insurance groups .
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 635
B ermuda Senate Madam President, the Insurance Act currently
allows the Authority to exercise discretion when deter-
mining whether it may be appropriate for the Authority
to be the supervisor s for an insurance group. However,
in support of clarity and certainty for stakeholders, the
proposed amendment seeks to remove this element of
discretion in cases where the ultimate parent company
of an insurance group is located in Bermuda.
Madam President, in accordance with the pro-
posed amendments, where an insurance group is headed by a specified insurer or where an insurance group is headed by a parent company , that is the ulti-
mate parent company incorporated in Bermuda, the Authority shall be the group supervisor. This means
that it will be mandatory for the Authority to assume the
role of group supervisor in this case. International
standards and practi ces provide that the Authority
should be able to supervise groups headed in its juris-
diction, including having the ability to access infor-
mation, and exercise intervention powers.
Madam President , the Authority maintains dis-
cretion regarding whether it would be the group super-
visor of an insurance group in cases where the ultimate
parent company is not incorporated in Bermuda and
will take into consideration, among other factors, where the group is directed or managed from, the size of its Bermuda operations, and the relative importance of those operations to the group.
Madam President, under the Authority’s cur-
rent approach to group supervision, the Authority des-
ignates a registered insurer through which it supervises
the activities of the group. This approach has been ef-fective in most cases and will continue to be the primary approach for group supervision. However, the pro-posed changes seek to address circumstances where
the Authority finds it ineffective to enforce group super-
vision compliance requirements through the desig-
nated insurer. This can result, for example, in cases where impediments to the designated insurer's ability to facilitate group compliance with the Authority's regu-
latory requirements arise and where the group does not
address such impediments.
Madam President, to address these cases and
to facilitate effective group supervision for Bermuda groups for which the Authority is the group supervisor, the Authority has proposed amendments to the Act to
allow for the designation of an “insurance holding com-
pany” as a designated insurance holding company
through which it will apply group supervision in specific cases where the Authority has determined that group
supervision through the designated insurer is ineffec-tive. This includes cases where the Authority is unable
to discharge any one or more of its functions outlined in the provisions of the Act related to group supervision or where conditions for intervention set out in the Act are met and the Authority deems that intervention
would not be effective through the designated insurer.
To facilitate the supervision of insured holding
companies, the Bill introduces a definition of insurance holding company whic h would be defined to mean an
entity that is a body c orporate incorporated or formed
including by way of continuation in Bermuda that holds
participations in one or more companies where at least
one of the companies is an insurer.
Madam President, the Bill provides the Author-
ity with the power to designate insurance holding com-
panies of groups for whic h the Authority is the group
supervisor. It is through this entity that the Authority
would be able to oversee the actions of the group, have
access to information needed for effective superv ision
and enforce compliance with the regulatory framework
where such ac tions may have been ineffective through
the designated insurer. This will also address any gaps
in regulatory oversight regarding the insurance group.
Madam President, in its determination of which
entity will be the designated insurance holding com-
pany, the Authority will assess the lev el of control that
the entity has in the group and the level of ris k to the
insurance business of the group. The Authority will pro-
vide notice to the relevant entities communicating the
identification of the ins urance holding company and ex -
plaining how such designation would impact regulatory
obligations of the group. It should be noted that the pro-
posed amendments provide for representations to be
made to the Authority regarding the designation of an
insurance holding company.
Madam President, it should be noted that these
proposals will not affect the method in which group cap-
ital is calculated. The Authority currently requires group
capital to be computed on a c onsolidated basis, and
this will be the continued approach. Therefore, there is
no additional compliance burden to groups in this re-
gard.
Madam President, the Bill enhances the Au-
thority's power by bringing designated insurance hold-
ing companies under scope. In relation to the desig-
nated insurance holding companies, the Bill provides
the Authority with the power to
1.apply to the courts in Bermuda to issue injunc-
tions restraining specified actions by a desig-
nated insurance holding company;
2.issue penalties against a designated insurance
holding c ompany; and
3.present a petition to the courts in Bermuda for
the designated insurance holding company to
be wound up.
Madam President, it is important to note that
these powers will be applied proportionally and carry
the right of repeal in s pecified circumstances .
Material Tr ansaction Re porting for In surance Gr oups
Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: For the purpos es of
material change reporting to the Authority section 30JA
of the Insurance Act outlines activities that are deemed
material. Currently, the Authority requires notific ation
from des ignated insurers of material changes within 30
days of the c hange taking effect. However, the pro-
posed amendment seek s to carve out a prenotific ation
636 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate process for material changes concerning amalgama-
tions or mergers with or acquisitions of another firm.
The Authority will require notification in advance of
such transactions being affected.
Madam President, this means that in respect of
a designated insurer or designated insurance holding
company of Bermuda Insurance Group, transactions
involving amalgamations, mergers and acquisitions
should not be made without satisfying the requirement
that a written notice of the proposed transaction be
served to the Authority in advance of the transaction
and the Authority has issued a notice of no objection.
This allows the Authority to review the proposed trans-
action to ensure among other things that the transac-
tion will not affect the Authorit y’s ability to effectively su-
pervise the group.

Engagement with Stakeholders

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Madam President, the
Authority takes a collaborative approach in the devel-
opment of its regulatory framework. In this vein, the Au-
thority has engaged with the insurance industry inter-
national standards setters and other stakeholders re-
garding the proposals presented in the B ill.
The Authority pre-consulted with member s of
the Bermuda International Long Term Insurers and Re-
insurers, or BILTR, and the Associat ion of Bermuda In-
surers and Reinsurers, or ABIR, which was followed by
a broader consultation exercise in December 2024 where member s of the public and other stakeholder
groups were invited to provide feedback.
Madam President, the proposals represent a
new approach to insurance group supervision in Ber-
muda . Stakeholders asserted the need to proceed with
care regarding the implementation of the proposals.
There were concerns among others that such pro-posals could potentially disrupt group operations and
may result in regulatory inefficiencies and group re-structuring. Stakeholders were particularly concerned
with the removal of the Authority 's discretion as it re-
lates to its ability to withdraw as group supervisor and
the extension of the Authority 's enforcement powers in
relation to designated insurance holding companies.
Additionally, stakeholders emphasised the need to ap-
ply the proposals in a proportionate and transparent
manner having regard to due process and individual
firm circumstances.
Madam President, the Authority carefully con-
sidered the feedback and, where appropriate, adjusted the proposals. The feedback and the Authority 's re-
sponses were published on the Authority 's website on
the 6th of May 2025 in a document titled, “ Stakeholder
Letter Consultation Paper : Proposed Enhancements to
the Insurance Group Supervision Framework .”
One such adjustment includes the Authority 's
decision to maintain the designated insurer in the reg-
ulatory framework and only designate an insurance
holding company under specific circumstances. This reflects a change in approach from the Authority's initial proposals and addresses some of the concerns raised
by stakeholders.
Madam President, the Authority has made
great efforts to address stakeholder concerns appropri-
ately. However, the Authority has taken the decision to
maintain the amendment s that removes its ability to
withdraw as group supervisor when the mandatory con-
ditions for group supervision by the Authority have
been met.
As the regulator for insurance business in Ber-
muda having responsibility for the effective oversight of
insurance companies in or from Bermuda, it is im-
portant that there are no impediments to the Authority 's
ability to exercise its supervisory and enforcement
functions in relation to Bermuda insurance groups.
Therefore, where an insurance group is headed by a specified insurer or where an insurance group is
headed by a parent company (that is the ultimate par-
ent company which is incorporated in Bermuda) , the
Authority shall be the group supervisor.
Madam President, in response to stakeholders ’
concerns about possible disruption to group opera-
tions, the Authority 's approach is to engage with the rel-
evant entities and supervisors or supervisory colleges
to mitigate regulatory inefficiencies and to support tran-
sition arrangements. Additionally, the Bill provides tran-
sitional provisions to allow impacted entities one year
to take such steps as may be necessary to affect the
transition as it relates to group supervision. The Author-
ity will review any requests for an extension on a case-by-case basis.
Madam President, where it concerns the pro-
portionate application of proposals including the exten-
sion of enforcement powers, the Authority has empha-
sised that it operates in accordanc e with the principle
of proportionality. It should be noted that the enforce-ment powers within the proposals, as is the case with
the Authority 's current enforcement powers, allow for
an appeals process under the Act. Further, the pro-
posals allow for representations to the Authority regard-
ing certain group supervision decisions . Such repre-
sentations will be taken into consideration before exer-
cising supervisory actions.
Madam President, the Authority will ensure
continued engagement with stakeholders post imple-
mentation to ensure that intended outcomes are
achieved and to mitigate any unforeseen circum-
stances.
In closing, Madam President, I would like to
thank those within the [Bermuda Monetary ] Authority,
the Attorney General's Chambers, the Ministry of Fi-
nance, the private sector , and other stakeholders who
have assisted in the development of this B ill.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: And thank you, Minister Crystal Cae-
sar, S pokesperson for Finance.

Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 637

Bermuda Senate ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITORS

The President: I would also like to acknowledge the
team of individuals who are in the Senate Chamber this
morning to assist with any questions.
Welcome to you all.

[Insurance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2025, second read-ing debate, continuing]

The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator Cunningham, Opposition Leader in
the Senate, you have the floor.

Sen. Victoria Cunningham: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident, and thank you to the Minister for her presenta-
tion.
Once again, the Opposition is supportive of an-
ything that strengthens our need to constantly evolve with the BMA and looking to strengthen the group su-
pervision framework. ( There were a lot of big transitions
of words in there. )
But I think . . . yes, i t is important . But one of
my questions is around whether we have sufficient re-
sources within the BMA to manage this. I assume we
are only talking about a small number of groups being
brought into this new regime, but is there sufficient re-sourcing?
Then, more just for clarification, so if have got
. . . how will the BMA coordinate with foreign or over-
seas jurisdictions that may already be . . . so, you know,
there is no duplication of efforts on the part of the group
or the companies. And then, I guess, how or w hat cir-
cumstances would lead the BMA to designate that they
were the correct authority or that it was somebody else
to act as the . . . what was it? The superior supervisor?

[No audible response]

Sen. Victoria Cunningham: Yes. Superior supervisor.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Cunningham,
would any other Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Yes, Vice President John Wight, you have the
floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
When I read through this, I felt in much the
same way as the Beneficial Ownership Amendment Act that was previously discussed, in that it would be diffi-
cult, if not impossible, for all stakeholders to be fully on board. But I think on balance, this does make sense for
the jurisdiction . And certainly how the legislation is ap-
plied going forward will be critical to how insurance companies impacted by this legislation feel about it. But on balance, I am very much in support of
it. Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Vice President John W ight.

[No audio]

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Madam President, I
thank colleagues for their support. In response to Sen-ator Cunningham's question with regard to sufficient re-
sources, you would note that this has been in discus-sion for some time. And so, yes, the Au thority does
have sufficient resources to manage this process.
In addition, because the A uthority is already a
member and has relationship with supervisory colleges
in terms of the management of who will end up being
the superior supervisor, there will be consultation with themselves. These questions are not foreign to the A u-
thority, and so they have expertise to have conversa-
tions in order to determine the way forward in this re-
gard.

The President: Mm-hmm. With that —

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Any supplementaries?
No?
The President: There do not seem to be any other
questions, Minister, so you can continue to pass your
Bill, then.

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Insurance Amendment ( No. 2) Act 2025, be now
read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
With that said, Madam President, I move that
[Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect of this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Insurance Amendment ( No. 2) Act 2025, be now
read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third read-
ing?
638 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

INSURANCE AMENDMENT ( NO. 2) ACT 2025

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
I move that the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill entitled
Beneficial Ownership Amendment Act 2025 [sic] do
now pass.

[Crosstalk ]

The President: Oh, Insurance . . . I'm reading the
wrong one.
[Laughter]
The President: Ah! Too much going on.
Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Too many names.
The President: Yes, too many.
It has been moved that the Insurance Amend-
ment (No. 2) Act 2025 do now pass.
Is there an objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Insurance Amendment (No. 2) Act
2025 was given a third re ading and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Minister, and thank you,
Senators, for your support of the Minister in sharing the
workload. It's been very good.
With that said, we now move on then with our
agenda.

MOTIONS

The President: There are none.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR OBITUARY
SPEECHES

The President: Senator Simmons, you have the floor.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
Madam President, I would like to extend a
heartfelt congratulations to Maya Dean on the launch
of her website, Bermudiana Sources. It is Bermudiana-
sources.com. Maya has created a thoughtful and much-
needed resource designed to help students navigate
the often- complex journey of pursuing higher educa-
tion. As Maya described it, the website is built from ex-perience, driven by purpose, and designed for students
like you. And that intention is clearly reflected in the
platform. This is no small undertaking, and the vision,
care, and commitment behind Bermudian a Sources are
truly admirable.
Madam President, what makes this achieve-
ment even more meaningful is that this vision was spo-
ken into existence. During the government scholarship
interviews last year, Maya shared her desire to give
back to future higher education students and spoke
about her plan to build a website to help guide them
through the process. Today, that vision is a reality.
Madam President, by providing guidance, clar-
ity, and access to information, the Bermudian a Sources
has the potential to make meaningful differences in the
lives of many young people. Maya's work is a powerful
reminder that our young people are innovators, prob-
lem solvers, and the change makers, identifying real
needs in our community and creati ng meaningful solu-
tions.
So well done, Maya, on turning intention into
action and lived experiences into tools for empower-ment and opportunity. I look forward to seeing how this
platform continues to grow and inspire others to lead
with purpose. Congratulations again, Maya.
And I will say, Maya, if you are listening, I have
sent it to both high school principals, guidance counsel-
lors, deputy principals. I was able to go through your
website. It is very helpful. So, thank you, Maya, for this
much- needed tool. And I also sent it to the Minister of
Education.
Also, Madam President, I would like to take the
time to thank a couple of young people. I did mention
last week that we had over 400- plus angels that we had
to give gifts to. The gifts were delivered on Monday to
Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Last week, Teen Haven.
And on Monday, we had the Foster Parent Association
annual give back to the foster children.
But I want to highlight two young people in par-
ticular. Yesterday, I had a young person who wanted
an electric piano. Unfortunately, the person who took
that angel had to leave on a medical emergency and
could not fulfil that wish. I had put it up on my status.
And within 20 minutes, I got a message from a young
lady that goes to CedarBridge. She actually came to
Chopsticks and took two angels, came back with the gifts. And she said, Aunt Lindsay, can you send me a
bank account [number] ? I would like to don ate some of
my money towards getting this piano. And I said ,
Sherne McQueen, (That's her name. ) That’s fine, baby.
I'll find somebody to do it. You've done more than you
had to this year.
I also wanted to highlight Shariah Freeman-
Simmons. I must say she is my cousin. She actually
works at Chopsticks and Rosa’s [Cantina] with me. And
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 639

Bermuda Senate I must say most people before they knew it had an an-
gel in their hand. Shariah talked everybody into getting
an angel.
[Laughter]

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Some people didn't even
know what they were doing, but they got an angel and
said, This young lady asked me to get a gift for this
child. So, I want to thank Shariah. But what's really spe-
cial about Shariah is , Shariah . . . it was two big gifts.
One was a laptop and one was an iPad. And Shariah
convinced people at her church, at her [Bermuda Con-
ference] YPD, to donate for this iPad. And they had put
money aside for the iPad, but she went over and be-yond and was able to buy the iPad. So, we were talking
as I was taking her to our community service. And she
said, Yep, we didn't even need to use that money. I
said, Well, we still need a laptop. And she said, Hold
on. [She] made one phone call. And within 15 minutes,
we got the laptop and delivered it to the social worker.
And then I got an email last night from a lady
from Bermuda, . . . I'm sorry, Shark s Swim Club. And I
didn't realise that the lady reached out to me through an email because she had spoken to Shariah. And Sha-riah had told her that she was taking her money that
she made that week to buy a gift certificate at Choices
for a young man. So, she took her $100 and got a gift
certificate. And the lady was so inspired that she took,
I think it was 15- plus angels, and she was able to fulfil
that.
So, it was the work of these two young women
that made sure that other young people who are their
age, maybe in their classes, their peers, they made
sure that their Christmas was extra special. So, I want
to thank them and everybody else that was able to fulfil these angels for our young people. I appreciate it. God
bless you all. And have a Merry Christmas.
The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay S immons.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Yes, I see Senator Tari k Dunbar Smith, you
have the floor.
Sen. Tarik Smith: Thank you, Madam President. Good
afternoon to our Senate colleagues and the listening
audience.
I just got a few congratulatory things I want to
mention . You know, as a football coach, I am always in
tune with what is happening with the youth in football.
So, this past weekend, the BSSF had the football finals
up at the North Field in National Stadium and also some games at The Berkeley Institute. As with some col-
leagues within these C hambers, Madam President, I
am a very proud Berkeleyite. So, I would like to con-
gratulate the Under 16 Berkeley female team for their
8-0 victory in their final.
And a big shout out to Dal ey Outer bridge, who
is one of my players at North Village. Also, the Under 16 Boys Finals, The Berkeley Institute beat S altus 4-0.
So that puts a smile, of course, on any Berkeleyite’s face because we just have a tremendous pride as a for-
mer Berkeley student.
Big-ups to Sa atchi Trott, Amir Weller, and
Rylan DeSilva, who are teammates of my son, Roman,
in the Under 17 National Team. And also, I want to send
a special congratulations out to Xavi Dill and Tanaj two
players who play for S altus , who won the O ver 13 F inal
against Sandys Secondary. They are also my players
for North Village U nder 13 Rams.
And also , a special congratulations to a cousin
of mine, David Augustus IV. Although he was on the
losing side with Saltus , he was presented with the MVP
for Saltus . So, congratulations to David also.
I have a few obits. I just want to send condo-
lences out to the family of [Jake] “ Wai Zwu” Spencer,
his mother Brenda. I have known her since I was quite
a young boy on South Shore, and his siblings. So, I do
want to send my condolences to the Spencer -Augustus
family.
Also, to the Augustus family for the loss of the
mother, Ms . Pauline Augustus. My deepest condo-
lences to that entire family.
And also, to the Swan family, Mr. Vincent
Swan. He was very helpful to me many times in my
laundromat when I needed help with a little bit of plumb-
ing help. And his former missus, Mrs. Swan , worked for
me for many years, a wonderful employee. So, I do
send my heartfelt condolences to the Swan family.
Thank you very much.
The President: Thank you, Senator Tarik Dunbar
Smith.
Would any other Senator . . . Senator Cunning-
ham, Opposition Leader [in the Senate] , you have the
floor.

Sen. Victoria Cunningham: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
I would like to add congratulations to my col-
league, Senator Simmons, for Ms. Maya Dean, quite an exceptional young lady. For those who may not know,
she's also a Berkeleyite, but did dual enrolment through
Bermuda College. She then proceeded to get, as she
mentioned, $165,000 in scholarships for her four years
at North Carolina A&T, which is from my organisation,
Ministry of Education, ABIC, and presumably a few oth-
ers.
But just to add to . . . or to echo and add to the
comments, it is an amazing resource. And I would sug-gest anyone with . . . well, anyone with any interest in
any student going overseas, or even Bermuda College,
the information that she has compiled in that website is
unbelievable. And it includes Bermuda, the United
States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It has all
things from funding to interview skills to, you know, just
anything to navigate that transition. So, I think a mas-
sive congratulations to Maya Dean.
640 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Secondly, I want to congratulate Mr. Tony
Brann on. He has just walked 1,200 miles this year to
fundraise for Dementia Bermuda. He is part of their mu-
sic programme, which obviously supports individuals in
a day setting with the clients of Dementia Bermuda.
And I just think, you know, it is an out -of-the-box way of
thinking about raising money. He has raised $14,000
so far, and he is hoping to get between $20[,000] and
$30[,000] . So, I think, you know, supporting those prob-
ably roughly 3,000 people in Bermuda with dementia, many of whom are uninsured or underinsured, I want to say congratulations to Mr. Brann on.
And then finally, as we approach the festive
season, we have got all our students coming back. I've
had the beginning of my week spent with a lot of our
scholars returning and just hearing some of their sto-
ries. For some, it was their first time going away, and a lot were homesick. We actually have one down in Bar-
bados at the University of West Indies, and she was
talking about the cultural changes, or cultural differ-
ences, should I say, between Bermuda and Barbados. But I think, you know, it is important f or us to say that
we are proud of them . Right? S o that they've gone
away, they are getting their education, and we look for-
ward to the contributions they will make in the future when they come home fully graduated.
Thank you very much.
The President: Thank you, Senator Cunningham.
Senator Mis cha Fubler , you have the floor.
Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to start by associating myself with
the congratulations that my colleague Senator Sim-mons expressed, particularly for the c ollege resource
website [Bermudian a Sources ]. I think that is an excel-
lent initiative that will be very helpful to our young peo-
ple in preparing the, hopefully, returning workers of our
economy.
Also, I would like to extend congratulations to
my colleague for . . . to herself, and both the people she
worked with in the Angel [Tree] programme, as well as
the people of Bermuda, who bought the angels. I was
actually interested in buying the keyboard, and some-
one beat me to the punch. I was too slow. And so, to
the people of Bermuda, thank you for your generosity.
I would also like to extend congratulations to
the 26 sporting and community clubs who received
capital development grants. Early on in my political ca-
reer, as it were, I caught quite a lot of flak in the public from folks when I expressed my desire for people to
become embedded in their communities, and gave ex-
amples of how to do that, including becoming involved,
not just with their money, but their time and talent for
community and sporting clubs. And so, it is great to see
that the gamut of those types of organisations, from cul-
tural community clubs through football and sailing, who
were able to receive funding to address gaps in the physical plan t and their service delivery to the commu-
nity.
Hopefully, we are helping to set the trend, and
we see more of that, especially with the recent change
in the corporate income tax credit structure. Those of you listening in, people who report on this session, you
know , that is an option for you to help engage with the
community.
And secondly, I would like to give congratula-
tions to everyone involved in Bacardi's 50 per cent off
ride home programme last week, Friday, 12 December.
Kind of front of mind in the public space is definitely safety on the roads. And so, a corporate partner en-
deavouring to put forward an initiative to reduce the fric-
tion involved with getting an alternative mode of trans-
portation after you have gone out for your evening of
celebration. I think that was great. And hopefully, we
see more of that from our corporate partners.
And on that note, Madam President, thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Mis cha Fubler.
Minister Crystal Caesar , you have the floor.

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam
President.
I will start off with the obits and end on a lighter
note. I was able to tune into the going home ceremony
for a former coworker who became a friend of mine, Ms.
Shanai Smith, and I think Mr. Tarik Smith would proba-
bly want to be associated as I know he has or had a
relationship with her as well. It was a wonderful service
and very heartening to hear the many l ives that she
touched with her work and service at the Bermuda
Monetary Authority. And as we have heard today, we
had quite a bit of input from or legislation as it pertains
to that entity. And it was, again, like I said, I met her
when I began . . . I should not say I met her there be-
cause we went to the Berkeley together, but she was
behind me. And as we all know, we don't pay attention
to the ones b ehind us as much because we are the
older ones.

[Laughter]

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: But Shanai had always
made an impression on me at the Berkeley . And so,
when we worked together at Bermuda Monetary Au-
thority, not only were we colleagues, we were friends.
She always greeted me with a positive attitude, a bright
smile, and always enquired about me and my children
and how we were doing. And so, it was good to hear
that others had the same experience. So many other
lives have been touched by her. And so, I wish her fam-
ily the best at this time and my condolences .
And now to a lighter note, Madam President, I
had three events that I was supposed to attend at the
same time this past Saturday night. So, I was trying to
figure out which one I was going to go to. I won't tell you
what the other two were, but I will tell you the one that
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 641

Bermuda Senate I did choose. And I am glad that I did. It was the
Skyport ’s Carol -Off that was held down at the airport at
L. F. Wade International Airport on Saturday evening.
And I have to say, I am a music person. I like
little concert s. So, I'm glad I chose . . . because the
young people were so impressive. And I was well en-
tertained but also impressed with the abilities of our
young people. They are so talented.
And so, I want to give congratulations to the
schools, the finalists that did participate. There were
several schools across the I sland from primary and
middle who did take part, but the first -place primary
school winners were the Northlands Choir. And as one
would know if they had seen them, they have strong
voices and they modulate and they harmonise. It is
amazing to see how enthused they are. And we have
to thank their music teacher, Mr. Terry Henry, who has
been noted, I want to say internationally on maybe Tik-
Tok, Facebook, something. And it was noted by . . . his
performances have been noted internationally by other musicians. So, you can only imagine the performance
that they gave on Saturday evening.
The second- place primary school winners
were Dalton E. Tucker. And again, they were quite en-
thusiastic. They were all so neatly dressed with their Christmas hats and their ties and what have you. And
they were just rocking on Saturday evening.
The middle school senior first place winner was
Bermuda Institute. Again, if you know anything about
Bermuda Institute and their choirs, I don't know how
people chose, to be quite honest, but they were also
People's Choice Award winners. And so, the middle
school and senior second place was The Berkeley In-
stitute. And I have to say, and I think others that at-
tended The Berkeley [Institute] would be happy to know
that they had an original piece penned by their music teacher, Mr. Maurice Clark e. And it was 12 Days of
Christmas . And let's just say one of the lines was, which
of course I was just very enthusiastic about, was res-
pice finem, was in the place of . . . of . . . where . . . five.
I'm not doing it justice. I'm sorry. I'm not doing it justice.

[Laughter]
Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: No, because as you
know, you count down, you go through the first day of
Christmas, second, third, fourth, and fifth is usually one
that is quite boisterous. And so, it was respice finem.
And the very first one, obviously, was, it's Barclay and
not The Berkeley . So of course, I was singing very loud
as they went through the countdown. And I just thought
it was fantastic. So , I have a video if anybody wants to
see it so you can understand why I was excited. But
anyway, sorry, maybe you can share in my enthus iasm,
but I was quite excited.
I'm glad that I attended, but congratulations to
all. And this event, although this is the third year, it's
becoming a staple on the Christmas calendar in terms of winter events. And so , congratulations to all the
schools, the participants, the teachers, and parents.
And so, thank you, Madam President. I will stop
there.

The President: Thank you, Minister Crystal Caesar.
Would any other Senator care to speak at this
time?
None?
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: I will, Madam Presi-
dent. Thank you very much.

The President: Minister Wilkerson.
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: I think in line with some
of the comments, which are congratulatory this morn-
ing, Madam President, we have just heard so much
about our young people. I had the pleasure of attending
the Bermuda Regiment's Christmas choral event on
Sunday afternoon. It was to be outside on the C abinet
grounds, but due to the weather, it was moved to the
Salvation Army Citadel in North Hamilton.
And I have to say, Madam President, that the
Bermuda Regiment did a fine job. The event was or-ganised and hosted by the Department of Culture, and
under the Director of Culture, Ms. Carlita “ Carly ” Lodge.
And I have to congratulate that M inistry for the fine work
in organising the event, but certainly to the Bermuda
Regiment. And what was so impressive, Madam Pres-
ident, was the insight into the youth music programme
through the R egiment. And there was an opportunity to
see the young drummers perform, very y oung men.
There were women as well, but in the drum corps, just the young men, they were absolutely fabulous.
And I want to certainly congratulate them. And
to go further, there was a congratulation for long ser-vice. And Regiment band member James Van- Lowe
was recognised for 49 years of service. Right? I have
known Mr. Van- Lowe from high school. He was obvi-
ously ahead of me, and he was a musician then organ-ising the Berkeley’s band at that time, the school band.
So, it was absolutely phenomenal to see generations of
musicians on display at that event. And it just speaks
so much for what giving back and giving time means to
our community. So, congratulations all around for them.
And interestingly, in the intermission from the
Regiment band, the Northlands Choir, under the direc-
tion of Mr. Henry, also performed, and they were abso-lutely delightful.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: And thank you, Madam Attorney Gen-
eral and Minister of Justice.
I would like to associate myself with the condo-
lences for the Augustus family. And I would just like to
also advise the Senate that there was a party for . . .
we've heard about Mrs. Izola Harvey and her 100th
birthday party. Well, the party took place on Sunday
642 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate evening, and it was a wonderful evening of entertain-
ment, dancing. The Premier was in attendance, as was
the Speaker Lister. And the Premier was able to pre-
sent the letter that she received from King Charles III.
Because you know, when people reach 100, the royalty
recognises you and sends you a letter.
And so , it was a wonderful evening. And I just
want you all and the public to know that it was a won-derful event, and she deserved every moment of it.
With that said, we will move on now to adjourn-
ment. And . . .

[Pause]

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Sorry , Madam Presi-
dent, we were just trying to figure out when we were
going to see you again, officially.

The President: Yes, give us a second. No, no, no. We
await.

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, Madam
President.
The President: Senator, Attorney General. Yes.

ADJOURNMENT

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: The House of Assem-
bly will not resume until February 27 [sic], Madam
President, with the . . . February 20th, sorry, February
20th with the laying of the B udget. And so there will not
be any items tabled that will be in a position for us to
debate if we were to return in February. And then the
Budget Committee of Supply will start immediately af-
terwards.
So, we do believe that we will not be returning
until the 25th of March, Madam President. If I am incor-rect, we will send notices to our Members . But that is
what it is looking like. So , [the Senate] will adjourn until
March 25.

The President: March 25. Thank you for that, Madam
Attorney General .
And Senators, I would just like to read a mes-
sage.

MESSAGE TO THE GOVERNOR

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS

The President: This is a message to the Governor.
“May it please Your Excellency ,
“The Senate has the honour to present its com-
pliments to Your Excellency and respectfully extends
its greetings for a very happy Christmas and a prosper-
ous New Year.”
And it is sent from us all. Would any Senator care to speak on the mo-
tion to adjourn?
Yes, Senator Lauren Bell. You have the floor.

HOLIDAY GREETINGS AND REFLECTIONS
Sen. Lauren Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President and Honourable Senators,
as we come to a close of this final sitting of the Senate
for the year, it is appropriate that we reflect briefly on
the work undertaken by this C hamber on behalf of the
people of Bermuda.
This has been a productive year for the Senate.
Throughout the year we have engaged in constructive debate, careful scrutiny, and thoughtful consideration
of legislation and reports that have been brought to the
Senate. In total, the Senate has considered and passed approximately 33 Bills, legislation aimed at strengthen-
ing our economy, modernising our laws, protecting
workers, and supporting both the social and regulatory
framework that underpins the daily life of Bermuda.
In addition to legislation, the Senate has re-
ceived and considered numerous reports. These re-
ports enhance transparency, accountability, and inform parliamentary oversight. Madam President, the legisla-
tion passed and the reports laid in this year were not abstract exercises. They translate directly into real world impacts for Bermudians, B ermudians in their
workplace, their homes, and their communities.
The work of the Progressive Labour Party G ov-
ernment in this C hamber reflects our continued com-
mitment to governing in the interests of the people of Bermuda, ensuring fairness, opportunity, and resilience across all sectors of our society.
Madam President, as we rise for the Christmas
recess, I wish to acknowledge the professionalism and dedication of those who support the work of this Parlia-ment : The Clerk to the Senate, the Parliamentary Offic-
ers, security personnel, and all staff whose efforts en-sure the smooth functioning of our democracy.
Madam President, it is also equally important
that we recognise and thank all labour across Ber-
muda, the men and women whose work has built this
country and continues to keep Bermuda operating at a standard that is admired and respected across the
world. It is the collective effort of these workers, skilled,
committed, and resilient, that allows Bermuda to main-
tain a quality of life and a level of service delivery that
stands proudly on the world stage.
Madam President, as we adjourn for the year,
I wish to extend warm Christmas greetings and best wishes for the peaceful and prosperous N ew Year to
our Honourable Senators, parliamentary staff, and of
course the people of Bermuda. May this festive period bring rest, renewal, and time with loved ones.
I look forward to returning in the new year to
continue the work with the same spirit of collaboration, accountability, and service.
Thank you, Madam President.
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 643

Bermuda Senate
The President: And thank you, Senator Lauren Bell.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Victoria Cunningham, Opposition
Leader [in the Senate], you have the floor.

HOLIDAY GREETINGS AND REFLECTIONS

Sen. Victoria Cunningham: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
I think we can all agree that we are in a season
that holds deep meaning for many, whether we are
Christian s celebrating Christmas, or whether we are
observing recently the Hanukkah celebrations, Kwanzaa, or other spiritual celebrations and traditions.
And, you know, while they may differ, I think there is a
lot of . . . there is a lot to celebrate between them. So,
you know, you have got hope renewal, generosity with
giving, and then a responsibility to each other. And I think bringing that in to education , which many know I
hold dear —

The President: Mm-hmm.

Sen. Victoria Cunningham: —I think we have a great
responsibility to our next generation with education and
opportunity. And I personally think education underpins
all facets of Bermuda society.
So, I think we need to get education right in or-
der to solve many of our other issues. But we need to make sure we are giving our children the tools [so] that
they can thrive. Are we giving our youngsters those op-
portunities that they can either go away to school or that
they can stay right here at home and get training and the education they need?
And then, are we preparing them for what Ber-
muda needs today a nd indeed in the future ? So digitally
with our digital transformation, but adaptability, problem
solving, and all those additional things that you might
not necessarily learn from a textbook, but you definitely
get through an education system. So, I think, you know,
while this seas on is one of celebration, we should also
look at a kind of renewed resolve in how we work with
our youngsters and how we, you know, offer them op-portunities.
So, as we conclude, I would like to echo the
sentiments and extend sincere thanks and gratitude ac-tually to all of my colleagues. And then best Christmas
wishes to everyone, the legislative staff, support ser-
vices, and obviously the listening audience—who actu-ally last week I received a letter from . . . so, thank you
very much to Mr. Dale Butler for your comments on Ber-
muda education— Bermuda College, sorry. That was, I
think 45 minutes after the conversation had been held.
So, it's good to know that you are listening and re-
sponding.
And I would then like to take this opportunity to
wish Bermuda a very Merry Christmas, [a] peaceful and
restorative holiday, and all the best for 20 26. And I will look forward to coming back for the B udget Debates in
March.
So, thank you very much.
The President: Thank you, Senator Cunningham.
Would any other S enator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Yes. Senator Tari k Dunbar Smith, you have the
floor.

CARICOM MEMBERSHIP

Sen. Tarik Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
I just want to speak on just a few things. I am
not one who want s to influence anyone with my political
voice. I feel that folks should do the research them-
selves. With that being said, there was a lot of talk
about CARICOM in recent days within another place and in media across Bermuda. I do encourage the lis-
tening audience and anyone who is unsure of the ben-
efits or the non- benefits of CARICOM, whatever that
may be, to research that. I won't sit here and say it is a
good or a bad idea. I would say, and my mother would
say, because she bought me the Encyclopaedia Britan-
nica as a young boy, R esearch it, son.
So, go out and do your research because there
is a credit to the Government that a poll is going around,
an interview, a telephone interview going around where
people are being called. And many folks are unaware
of what CARICOM is. So, I just suggest to the listening audience to please go out, do your research, go online.
If you have any questions, you can reach out to me, or
I am sure any of my Senate colleagues , and we will be
able to inform you of what it is that CARICOM is. I would
. . . that is just my short little bit on that.

HOLIDAY GREETINGS AND REFLECTIONS

Sen. Tarik Smith: Also, I would like to say thank you
to the legislative staff. I have been in these C hambers
for just a few months, but I want to thank you all for
making us look good.
[Laughter]

Sen. Tarik Smith: You do a lot of work behind the
scenes that, you know, many times maybe you don't
get the flowers you deserve when the time is right. I
want to also say to the Bermudian folk and those around the world who may be listening, I do wish eve-
ryone a wonderful holiday season. This is a time for re-flection, a time for family. It is very important that we
cherish those moments because at any given moment that can be taken from us. So, please cherish your time
and your moment with your family. I will be on vacation
from my family because they are travelling. So, I am
looking forward to two weeks by myself with my dog —

[Laughter]
644 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Tarik Smith: —here, while my missus and my son
travel to her mother in the UK.
Sorry, sweetheart. That is just how I feel about
that one.

[Laughter]

Sen. Tarik Smith: But again, season's greetings to
everyone within the Chambers and the listening audi-
ence. And I do look forward to the B udget Debate. I
hear it is quite lengthy and interesting. So, I have a lot
of homework to do between now and March.
Thank you very much.

The President: Thank you.
Senator Mis cha Fubler, you have the floor.

HOLIDAY GREETINGS: THE REASON FOR THE
SEASON
Sen. Mischa Fubler: Thank you, Madam President.
And before it gets too late in the afternoon, I
wanted to give my piece in what will be our last session
of the year 2025. In preparation, I look ed back on my
notes from the previous year -end session from 2024,
which was, I think only my third or fourth, right? I was
relatively new. And I gave some similar comments
around the need for us to consider that, you know, it's
not just the Christmas season. It is the holiday season,
[which is] definitely a little more appropriate. And so, my
spiel today is around the reason for the season.
My colleague in another place, actually the
substantive Minister for one of the several hats that I
wear, the Minist er of Tourism and Transport, Culture
and Sport, recently attended the second annual meno-
rah lighting celebrating Hanukkah. And to quote him, he said, O ur Island is strengthened by the rich tapestry
of cultures, traditions, and faiths that coexist with re-
spect and care for one another.
And in that regard, I wanted to spend some
time today kind of examining that in the Bermudian con-
text and hopefully provide some information to those of
the listeners who may be unaware. And because there
are indeed a multitude of holidays or, you know, obser-vances within December . And in no particular order of
priority, more just alphabetical because that is kind of
my preference generally when listing things.
The Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day on Decem-
ber 8. And as I just mentioned, those of the Jewish faith
or ethnicity celebrate Hanukkah from the 14th of De-cember through the 22nd of December. And then there
is also one of my favourites, Kwanzaa, which is cele-
brated from December 26th through the 31st. Those
who observe Sikhism celebrate Shaheedi Jormala from
December 24 through 26. Apologies to those if I butch-
ered that . You know, I'm a reader, I got a lot of words
up here that I have only ever heard in my mind. And so,
if I said that incorrectly, please do educate me. There is also winter solstice taking it back a lit-
tle further through some of the more kind of established religions. They celebrate the winter solstice that was
December 21. For those of you who suffer from sea-
sonal affective disorder, rejoic e [in] the fact that the
days will only get longer from here [on] as we move
back into having slightly longer days. And there's also
the Zoroastrians who call it Yalda Night, also celebrat-ing the solstice.
And then finally, the one that is most familiar to
all of us, Christmas on the 25th of December, and those of us across the Commonwealth who are lucky enough
to also celebrate Boxing Day as a national holiday. I
look forward to the back -to-back days off.
And kind of taking it back to the kind of title for
this again, What is the reason for the season? I reckon
that depends on who you ask, right? If those of you who
have young people in your life, children specifically,
they probably say it is the gifts, right? If you talk to your
parents and depending on the number of children they
may have and the nature of those children, they may
say time off from school, or maybe they don't count it in
that way. Some people quite enjoy or raise concern
when there is a day to give to the teachers for profes-
sional development or [a] much- needed break. Of
course, you ask teachers and they say this season is probably most appreciated for the time off from the work they have to do.
But I think most importantly, and I think com-
mon across all of those faiths and religions and con-structed holidays, is that it is important to appreciate
time with friends and family, time off from studies and,
to some degree time for gifts. Although at that point, I
wanted to make sure we take some time to try and dis-
tance ourselves from that . The idea of consumerism,
that the primary focus is gifts and gift -giving, I think is
detracting from the real purpose of the season, and also contributes to that whole consumerist mind- set,
which I think is a negative impact on society . It kind of
helps to keep the capitalism engine going, as it were.
And so , in that regard, we should look to focus on the
more important parts of this season.
And I encourage all of you, my colleagues and
those in the listening audience as well, to ensure that if
you are able to, you know, some of us are essential
workers, as it were, and may not be able to take time
off from work. But if you can take some time to discon-
nect, ensure you spend some time with people that fill
you with joy. And maybe that is family, maybe that's not .
Maybe that is friends or associates, or your dog, as my
colleague mentioned previously, whoever it is, . . . take
some of that time f or some introspection.
And even if you are experiencing severe dis-
tress . . . there's economic inequality, not just here in
Bermuda, but around the world. And I would argue it is a factor that is inherent to the capitalist system. And so
it may be difficult for some of us to see things that we
are thankful for. But I guarantee you, if you take the
time to pause, and give it some consideration, there will
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 645

Bermuda Senate be things that you can find in your life that you are
thankful for, even if it is just life itself.
I want to take a moment to kind of call out those
who are unequivocally experiencing more tenuous ex-
istence living through war and strife, as it were. There
are conflicts around the world that I think many of us
are aware of. And if you are unaware, I encourage you,
as my colleague mentioned, to do your research. There
are many . And oftentimes those conflicts are tied to the
capitalism and consumerism that I highlighted. The
quest for gold, oil, and diamonds are things that have
negative impacts on society. And as such, take the time
to educate yourself on those and maybe change your
approach or viewpoint to kind of the need for things.
Our family, we try to prioritise experiences over
the toys. I think, you know, especially with the younger
kids. I think most parents can attest they are often more
engaged with the box that the [gift] came in than the toy
itself. That's definitely been my experience. Sometimes I say I should just get a box and let them have at it,
right?
But ye s, I think , getting back to the reason for
the season, outside of taking the time to recharge our
proverbial batteries, I think we have ample time here in
the Senate. We are not coming back until March. I hope
that we won't take that entirety of the time. I en-
courage especially my colleagues across the aisle who may be unfamiliar with the process to develop the rela-tionships needed for us to operate effectively. Reach
out to the relevant ministries that you may be the
spokesperson for. I find that t he public officers are more
than willing to meet with you and give explanations on
the kind of nature of the business, as it were, and for
you to— not just you, for all of us —come more informed
into the Senate and enhance the level of debate that
we have.
And also, I encourage those of us who have
the ability to do so to volunteer some of our time or tal-
ent to maybe some of the community organisations I
highlighted during the congratulations , or others .
Maybe even just a neighbour . But think of ways that you
can give of your time and talents to recharge the bat-
teries of others. I think you will find that working in ser-
vice is a reward in and of itself [and] that is definitely
fulfilling. I think my colleagues can agree.
And in closing, Madam President, my last
statement, again from the transport perspective, this is
the festive season. There are many events. We had
some highlighted. If you are going to drink, please plan
ahead. Arrive alive. If you are drinking, do not drive.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: And thank you, Senator Mis cha Fubler .
Would any other Senator care to speak?

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Yes.

The President: Minister Crystal Caesar , you have the
floor. HOLIDAY GREETINGS AND REFLECTIONS

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: Yes. Thank you,
Madam President.
In my effort to sort of understand and just re-
flect on what Christmas means and the holiday season
for Bermuda, but also for other countries closely re-
lated, I did a bit of research . And in my 50- some years
I did not realise how closely some of our traditions
mimic other countries in the Caribbean. And so, I just
wanted to highlight that.
In particular, for those who do not know, there
is a strong emphasis in Jamaica, just as there is in Ber-muda, on Christmas songs, traditional carolling, et
cetera, et cetera. Some of the food that they eat in Ja-
maica typically around this time of year is Christmas
cake soaked in rum, chicken or ham, and also sorrel, which tends to highlight very much during this time of
year.
In Trinidad, again a very strong festive time is
had. It's the lead- in to the Carnival period. And so obvi-
ously there's a lot of music, hospitality, singing. Again,
there is sorrel, which tends to be indulged [in] during
that time, in addition to something called black cake ,
which I have had to look up because there's actually a
movie called Black Cake , so I had to look it up. But
clearly, there are influences throughout the region on that particular item. And also, there are some rum -
based drinks.
And then in Barbados, they also have the same
similar meals, baked ham, local fruitcake. There is a lot
of carolling. There are midnight church services, which
we tend to see here as well in that period.
And then in The Bahamas, again, baked ham
or turkey, peas and rice, which is interesting that that's
the name that came up because most people say rice
and peas in other jurisdictions, but that's what my re-
search uncovered. Also, the centrepiece of that ti me
frame was Boxing Day and New Year, as is here.
In Haiti, also, they have a lot of singing of carols
and midnight mass as well, which is, again, similar to Bermuda.
In the Dominican Republic, again attending
church is a very . . . it highlights and is featured in their
celebrations as well as family gatherings similar to Ber-
muda.
One of those places that wa s most interesting
to me—because I do actually know that I have herit-age— is St. Kitts and Nevis. And so , Bermuda very
much closely mirrors how St. Kitts and Nevis celebrate
Christmas, but particularly on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, as we do with, you know, gathering
and gift -giving on that morning. Again, carolling, they
indulge in saltfish, black cake , and sorrel as well. But I
say all this to say that a lot of our differences are not
actually that different. It's just t hat it's been tweaked de-
pending on the region that you are in, depending on the
climate, what's available, et cetera, et cetera. And so, it
was interesting for me to do this research and really
646 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate understand and see how much more similar we are
than we are different, particularly in the region.
But I also just wanted to take the time to also
say that whilst it is a time for family and gift -giving and
singing and whatnot, there are many out there who may
or may not have that level of family support. And so, I
think we need to . . . and it can be depressing for those
who don't necessarily have that kind of connection. And
so, just take the time to be extra kind because we do
not know what someone is dealing with during this par-ticular period. Studies have actually shown that depres-sion and suicide tend to peak during this time of year
because people don't necessarily have those kinds of
supports and because the weather does not neces-
sarily, on this side of the world anyway, support. It's not as sunny . It's not as warm— as I sit here freezing, sitting
in my jacket, but anyway.

[Laughter]

Sen. the Hon. Crystal Caesar: But I say all that to say
that it is a festive time. I think we should enjoy it, but I
think we also need to be sensitive to those who are
around us.
I want to also just want to, as the Minister of
Education, thank the educators, thank parents, thank
the support staff at the Department of Education, the
teachers, the principals. And obviously I want to say a hearty, hearty Merry Christmas, best wishes for those
who don't celebrat e Christmas during the holiday sea-
son [and] to all those in the Bermuda public. And to my
colleagues here, wishing you all well during this period.
I will see you in the spring.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, [Minister] Crystal Caesar .
Would any other Senator . . . Senator Lindsay
Simmons, you have the floor.

HOLIDAY GREETINGS AND REFLECTIONS: BE
MINDFUL OF PEOPLE HURTING

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
Madam President, I first want to say season's
greetings to all my colleagues here and in another
place and also all the staff who help us all year round
to make this happen.
But Madam President, I want to take a minute
to say who knows it feels it . Right? This will be my first
Christmas without my father . . . and Christmas is big
for my family. It's a time . . . because we work hard. We
work late hours. And this was a time that we always got
together. So, I say that, you know . . . Sorry, I'm not go-
ing to cry anymore, but . . . (Thank you. )
So, I just want to say, you know, when your fa-
vourite person leaves, it leaves a big void. And my
daddy was everybody's favourite. And I take what Min-
ister Caesar said, because I wouldn't say that I'm depressed, b ut you know, by September I have got
everybody's gifts. I haven't even started shopping yet.
Because the first gift I always got was . . . my daddy.
So, I just want to remind everybody that alt-
hough we are going to celebrate because we have little
ones, I now know what it means to lose the greatest
person in your life. And I say, you know, just be mindful
of so many people hurting. Not just me , but a lot of peo-
ple in our community. I think about my aunt , who l ast
year had to endure losing her daughter and grandchil-
dren. And although I took a minute, I cried and I thought about her. I now know what it feels like to lose your fa-
vourite . . . a favourite part of you. So, I just want to tell
everybody, love hard. Because life is short. I know
somebody else in this room lost somebody, their father
as well. And I kno w that we had a conversation about
it, so I know it's hard. I know they are hurting. And so
many people are hurting.
So, I just want to tell everybody, you know,
have a great holiday. And if they aren't here, just re-
member the great times you had with them. And try to be positive. And, you know, I understand what my other
colleague, Senator Fubler, said. But for me, I show my
thanks to my family (because I do work hard) for eve-
rybody stepping in with my daughter. And I try to get
the best gifts and outdo everybody else. I'm going to
pull myself forward . . . together and make sure I try my
best to get the best gifts again this year. But, you know,
we pick names and, we each buy one gift for one per-
son. But, you know, I make the excuse that every other gift I buy is from my daughter. So however you cele-
brate, I think people know why . . . what's their why.
So, have a great holiday season. And sorry for
crying, but I do want to say I love you, Daddy, and Merry Christmas to everybody.

The President: Thank you, Senator Linds ay Simmons.
Would any other Senator . . . Yes, Senator
Dion Smith, you have the floor.

DEFINITION OF IDIOM “OVER A BARREL”

Sen. Dion Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, this is indeed the season to
be jolly. But I come to this Honourable Chamber today
with a concern that I carefully considered and reflected
upon. This matter came to my attention following a call
from a constituent regarding an expression used a few
weeks ago, an expression that has since caused some discussion and debate within our community. The
phrase that raised eyebrows was “ over a barrel. ” It gave
me pause and I felt necessary to explore both its defi-
nition and origin.
Historically, the phrase was first recorded in
1938 and is said to allude to an old and misguided
method of attempting to revive a drowning victim by placing the body head down over a barrel, rolling it back
and forth to expel water from the lungs. Over ti me, how-
ever, the phrase evolved to carry a very different
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 647

Bermuda Senate meaning: being in a helpless or powerless situation
where another party has complete control, often lead-
ing to unfair treatment or exploitation.
An example of that would be the ongoing con-
flict in Ukraine, which is often described in terms of un-equal power , dynamics between involved parties. Sim-
ilarly, discussions surrounding Venezuela frequently
references economic and political pressures that place
the country in a constrained negotiating position. These examples are not offered as judgments, but rather as
commonly cited illustrations of how the phrase is un-derstood in a broader usage.
This phrase is known as an idiom. An idiom is
a common expression whose meaning cannot be un-derstood literally from the individual words used. For
example, “break the ice,” means to ease tension or
begin a conversation. “Under the weather, ” means feel-
ing unwell . “Hit the ground running, ” means to begin
something quickly and effectively.
In closing, Madam President, my intention in
raising this matter is not to inflame, accuse, attribute
motive, but rather to encourage clarity and thoughtful
reflection on the language used within our Parliament.
Words, particularly [ idiomatic ] expressions, can carry
mean ings that resonate differently across our diverse
community, sometimes beyond what was originally in-
tended. As legislators, our responsibility extends not
only to the laws we debate and pass, but also to the language we use, as it helps shape public perception
and confidence in the institution.
I therefore raise this issue in the spirit of under-
standing, transparency, and respect, with the hope that
our discourse continues to reflect values of fairness, in-
clusivity, and mutual regard that the people of Bermuda expect and deserve.

HOLIDAY GREETINGS

Sen. Dion Smith: I would like to conclude by wishing
my colleagues in this Honourable Chamber, the legis-
lative staff, the listening audience, and the people of
Bermuda a very Merry Christmas and a happy and
prosperous New Year. I look forward to returning in
2026 to continu e serving the people of Bermuda.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dion Smith.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
the motion to adjourn?
Minister Wilk erson, were you indicating?

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: If there is no one else
to speak, I will speak on the motion to adjourn. Thank
you, Madam President.
The President: I didn't see any , so certainly, Minister
Wilkerson, Attorney General , you have the floor.
THE POWER OF WORDS
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, Madam
President.
It is the time when we are closing the year,
Madam President , I think , wishing good cheer to all in
our country and those abroad.
Madam President, I think it's important to take
this opportunity. I just heard my colleague across the
aisle talk about words , and words said. And I think
that's fine in the context of those single words. But the
meaning attributed to words often is made fuller by the
additional words in the context in which they are used,
Madam President. Words are known outside of context .
Right? In my opinion, not really worth talking about def-
initions. But be that as it may .
What I want to say, Madam President, is that
at this time of year, particularly when we talk about ex-
tending good cheer, and we recognise the reason that
we all take a place in this Chamber, it is because we
are all interested on this side, across the aisle, Inde-pendents [and] in another place, in making sure that we
operate to make Bermuda the best place possible,
(right?), for the people who live here, and also that we
are seen to be the best place in the . . . as we are
looked at in the world.
We operate, Madam President, now in a time
when words travel instantaneously. They are not con-
tained in another place. They are not contained in the
halls. They are not contained just in The Royal Gazette.
Whatever is printed, said here, is capable of being in-terpreted, read, defined, perhaps by others, in every
other place in the world. Because Bermuda, is not just
another world. It's not an island on its own. We are part
of the fabric of jurisdictions . Right? And particularly as
a domicile, a leading domi cile for international busi-
ness . Madam President , it is important that when we
talk about our jurisdiction inside, that we understand
that those words may be measured outside.
So, Madam President, [with] any conversation
amongst Members of Parliament, of citizens, but par-
ticularly Members of Parliament who have a platform
where the words that they say will be replicated, rec-
orded, played again, and interpreted internationally,
care must be taken that we do not inadvertently score
own goals against our country in the effort to score po-
litical points. It is imperative, Madam President. And
that is the care that must be taken. When we say we
care for one another, we care for one another because
we care for Bermuda. And if we care for Bermuda, we
care about how Bermuda is interpreted, how Bermuda
is looked at, and how Bermuda is measured on the
world stage.
And that is the bigger work that we do, under-
standing that we are always, Madam President, putting
our jurisdiction in the best light. And that is not to say
people should stand in any place and say things that
are not true. But when we make comments that are said
with innuendo, Madam President, that presents a
648 17 December 2025 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate burden. And as elected and appointed M embers in the
places that we sit, Madam President, that is a burden
that must be carried out with diligence and care, under-
standing the impact that words and innuendo could have, not just on a Member across the aisle that they
are levelled against, but across the entire jurisdiction.
Those things help to characterise the jurisdiction.
Madam President , that is why we do all of the
work that we do to meet the Financial Action Task
Force standards . So that the world knows that this Ber-
muda is not a place where corruption is tolerated. Eve-
rything that we do in that regard, Madam President, try-
ing to make sure that the 40 recommendations of the
Financial Action Task Force are not only matters of our
law, but they are effective in how we operate, Madam
President, that we are able to demonstrate by illustra-
tion and example that we do the right thing in this juris-
diction.
So, Madam President, that is why it should not
be tolerated when M embers use their platform and their
voices to make the suggestion that things may be un-toward in this jurisdiction. There should be no place for
that, Madam President.
I was encouraged to hear my colleague across
the aisle talk about openness to have dialogue and en-
couraging Bermuda residents when they may be hav-
ing questions about CARICOM. It is a platform promise
of the Progressive Labour Party [Premier] that we will
move toward examination of full membership, so that's
not anything that people won't know. But what citizens
who seem to suddenly be talking about it may not rec-ognise is that we have enjoyed the benefit of associate
membership in CARICOM for more than 20 y ears now .
Right? I think sometimes, Madam President, residents
may not know what those benefits have been for 20
years because we are not often talking about it as a
matter of course, and perhaps that is something that should change.
So when people go— as my granddaughter
says, We don't do research, we search it up —to search
up what this means, they should, as my colleague across the aisle said, form their own views about what
this means . But they should be doing that in the context
of what has already been done and what we already
benefit from, Madam President.
So, my colleague Senator Caesar talked about
the things that unite us more than the things that divide
us. We are living in a world, Madam President, again
where we know that we are not an island sitting in the North Atlantic by ourselves.
All you have to do is turn on the news to recog-
nise that the opportunity to be more aligned and to
deepen our ties with territories that are more like us
than different from us is more important now than ever,
Madam President. When we have first world countries
. . . first world countries waging war on weaker territo-
ries, that , in and of itself , should be the kind of thing that
says to citizens, What about us? How are we strengthening our position as an island where we are geographically with countries that are more like us?
I have the opportunity, I talked about it in this
Chamber last week, Madam President, about my time
in the UK, sharing with other British Overseas Territo-
ries and Crown dependencies who are not even in the
Caribbean, but in the Pacific . We talked about what
things we have more in common than the things that
divide us. Madam President, this world is a small world
because of technology in the way that news, bad news
or good news , moves faster than the speed of light .
Right? By the time it's spoken, someone i s reading it i n
another part of the world. So, Madam President, we do
have to take care. We have to take care with how we guard our jurisdiction. We have to take care with how
we treat one another publicly and privately, Madam
President. We have to take care of our country and our
people, Madam President.
So, with that, I did not want to leave this room
without talking about one of my colleagues who spoke today very emotionally . But she exemplifies, Madam
President . . . and I am talking about none other than
Senator Lindsay Simmons. She exemplifies every day
what Christmas is about. There is no one that I have
met before or know now who is more giving. I do not
understand how she manages to do all of the things
that she does in running very busy businesses, giving all of her time to the Foster Parents Assoc iation, being
a foster parent herself, being an adoptive parent, being
a Chair of a very busy Bermuda high school's board at
CedarBridge. And I am constantly hearing from Sena-
tor Lindsay Simmons about the concerns of others.
If there is something that she believes I could
do to move about for family , she is articulating that,
Madam President. This is how she operates throughout
the year. But I believe that the way that she operates,
citizen to citizen, family to family, person to person, is
the embodiment of really what Christ died for . That we
should be sharing, loving, and helping one another al-ways.

HOLIDAY GREETINGS AND REFLECTIONS
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: So, Madam President,
with that, I would like to just bid H appy Holidays to my
colleagues in this C hamber, to our support staff, cer-
tainly, to Ms. Beale, Mr. Som ner, and Mrs. Place,
Madam President . And to all of the listening audience,
please be safe, as Senator Mis cha Fubler has said, if
you are travelling on our roads. I live in Somerset, Madam President, and I swear I meet an accident al-
most every day in my comings and goings. And we
want people to be safe and to have a happy and pros-
perous 2026.
Thank you, Madam President.

HOLIDAY GREETINGS AND REFLECTIONS

The President: And thank you, Minister Wilkerson.
Official Hansard Report 17 December 2025 649

Bermuda Senate And, Senators, I would just like to say I'm sure
this listening audience having heard each one of you
speak on the motion to adjourn and all that you had to
say, and when they listen to our debates and our ses-
sions, you know, the feedback to me has been really, really good in terms of how we function as a legislative
body. And I just want you to know that that's the feed-
back I get all the time.
So, I want to thank each and every one of you
for your hard work during this Senate period. And par-
ticularly, we have embraced two new Senators, and I
want to acknowledge you both and look forward to con-
tinued work going forward. I also want, as each one of
you have said, to thank the legislative staff for their
work in ensuring that we are able to perform our work
effect ively. And I really, really mean that because they
really, really go out of their way to make sure that we
function effectively. And I really want to thank them as
a group and individually.
I also want to extend my very best wishes to
each one of you. I am aware of so many families who
are having a difficult time at this time because of the
loss of family members. And even in my own extended
family, there are losses. And so, I feel for all of us here
and all those in the community who are spending Christmas without certain family members.
You know, we have had so many accidents
[among] our young people. And I think about them and,
you know, and like you all, we are on the road and we
have near misses. People are overtaking you. They are
going on the side and coming close to you. It's very,
very difficult. And we all have to be so aware of our sur-
roundings and take our time also to make sure that we
don't cause an accident. And I pray before I leave home
and I pray throughout the time I'm on the road. So, I
agree with all that has been said a bout safety on the
road because it is very, very difficult. Our young people need to slow down.
But this is the Christmas season. This is the
time when families get together and spend time and
show love, not just to their immediate families, but to
their extended families and to their neighbours. And so,
I want to wish each and every one of you and the lis-tening public a wonderful, safe, and blessed Christmas, however you spend it. And I look forward to working
with each and every one of you in the new year. I'm
saying the new year. We have been told we will be back
in March. But I do know that there are some things that
will be happening before that date.
But I want to wish each and every one of you a
blessed Christmas and an enjoyable Christmas. And thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my
heart for your hard work. We are a very successful
team. And I look forward to continuing the work in 2026.
So, with that, Senate stands adjourned. And
enjoy and be blessed. Thank you.

[At 12:44 pm, the Senate stood adjourned until
10:00 am, Wednesday, 25 March 2026.]
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