Bermuda Team Connects with Fintech Leaders in Toronto

Bermuda Premier David Burt turned the spotlight on the island’s
innovation community for a sold-out audience of global entrepreneurs in
Toronto this week at North America’s fastest-growing tech conference.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190523005286/en/

Bermuda Premier David Burt turned the spotlight on the island’s innovation community at this week's sold-out Collision tech conference in Toronto (Photo: Business Wire)

Collision, which brought 25,000 delegates, including investors and
start-ups, to the city’s lakefront Enercare Centre for its Canadian
debut, saw the Premier participate as a guest panelist at a packed
#MoneyConf session titled, “Striking the balance between regulation and
innovation.” Moderated by France 24’s White House correspondent Philip
Crowther, and also featuring Adam Hitchcock of Patch Capital Partners,
the discussion highlighted Bermuda’s regulatory agility and
world-renowned expertise that has created a respected framework to
attract quality fintech businesses.

“[Fintech companies] are now looking at us,” the Premier told the
Tuesday session that drew several hundred attendees, “and are talking to
our Bermuda Monetary Authority, because they want to be regulated with a
regulator that understands what they’re trying to do, in a jurisdiction
that is ready now—not one that’s taking the approach of waiting a
year or two to ensure structures are in place.”

The Collision showcase was a highlight of the three-day visit by
Bermuda’s delegation, comprising government, industry and the Bermuda
Business Development Agency. The Premier, accompanied by his Chief
Fintech Advisor Denis Pitcher and BDA CEO Andy Burrows, along with other
industry and BDA business development representatives, also attended
meetings with Toronto-based industry groups and fintech entrepreneurs to
fly the flag for the island’s emerging technologies sector and develop
strategic partnerships.

“For the BDA, this has clearly been an opportunity to continue to
showcase that Bermuda is innovative, nimble and agile, that we’re not
new to this space in terms of being adaptive and adoptive, and that as a
jurisdiction, we are best-placed to facilitate conversations, to get
ahead, and to be part of the outcome and solutions,” noted the BDA’s
Burrows.

Insurtech accelerator RGAx—a subsidiary of the Reinsurance Group of
America that provides technology, consulting and outsourcing solutions
to the North American life and reinsurance industries—hosted a private
thought-leadership gathering at its downtown Toronto offices for Team
Bermuda, with participation by executives from AIG Canada, Berkshire
Hathaway, and several insurance-related start-up ventures.

“The idea was to get a number of industry actors together from
government and insurance, as well as the start-up community, to really
see how industry innovation can move forward,” said host Mitch Ocampo, a
software engineer who now heads the Studio Innovation Lab at RGAx. “My
role is built on the notion of co-creation and collaboration, so being
able to work with Team Bermuda and explore ways in which we can move the
industry forward is worth making time for.”

The delegation also held meetings with Accenture, SparkLabs Foundry, the
Toronto Business Development Centre (TBDC), Toronto Finance
International (TFI), the MaRS Discovery District, and Canada’s leading
crypto exchange Coinbase, among other fintech-related entities.

“Having Bermuda represented at Collision, as well as the meetings we’ve
participated in this week, continues to help promote our
jurisdiction—not only in the fintech space, but also in insurtech and
education technology,” said Bermudian entrepreneur Coral Wells, founder
of ConnecTech and one of the delegation. “We’ve had the opportunity to
introduce a few of our Toronto partners to the Premier and the rest of
Team Bermuda, and we remain committed to growing the Bermuda technology
brand.”

CONNECTING BUSINESS

The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up,
re-locate or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An
independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry
professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda
government to assist domicile decisions. Our goal? To make doing
business in Bermuda smooth and beneficial.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190523005286/en/