2019 Bermuda Monetary Authority Fees

Summary

This document is the Bermuda Monetary Authority's consolidated fee schedule for 2019, effective 1 January 2019, setting out the application, licensing and annual fees payable by entities regulated under Bermuda's various financial services statutes. It has since been superseded by later annual fee schedules but remains useful as a historical reference for how BMA fees were structured that year.

• Banks and deposit companies: Application fee of $50,000 and annual fees banded by consolidated gross assets ($20,620 to $292,300), due on or before 31 March 2019.
• Corporate service providers: Application, per-entity licensing, and annual per-entity fees (around $21-$206), due on or before 31 March 2019.
• Credit unions: Licence grant fee and annual fee of $3,000 each, due on or before 31 March 2019.
• Money service businesses: Application fee of $2,420 and licensing/annual fees of $5,510, due on or before 31 March 2019.
• Insurers and insurance intermediaries: Extensive schedule of registration, class-based annual fees (varying by insurer class, premium or asset size), and numerous application fees for exemptions, extensions, capital model approvals and directions under the Insurance Act 1978.
• Digital asset business: Annual fees calculated as the lower of a fixed cap (e.g. $450,000) and a formula based on client receipts, varying by licensed activity (e.g. custody of client private keys).
• Other sectors: Fees also apply under the Trusts (Regulation of Trust Business) Act 2001, Investment Business Act 2003, Investment Funds Act 2006, and the Proceeds of Crime (AML/ATF) Act 2008, though full detail for these sections falls in the elided middle portion of the document.
• Payment mechanics: Late payment penalties apply to all regulated entities that miss the due date; dual licensees pay a separate annual fee for each class of licence held; pro-rata refunds are available on insurance licence cancellations only if deregistration occurs before March.

The document also provides payment logistics, including domestic online banking payment streams at HSBC Bermuda and Butterfield Bank and international wire transfer details, but these are administrative rather than substantive obligations.

Key obligations

• Regulated entities must pay their applicable annual business fee (as set out per sector and licence class) on or before 31 March 2019.
• Entities holding more than one class of licence must pay a separate annual business fee for each licence class held.
• Entities failing to pay annual fees by the due date must pay a late payment penalty as prescribed in the relevant sectoral Act.
• Insurers seeking a pro-rata refund on cancellation of registration must have their deregistration processed by the Authority before March 2019, otherwise no refund is granted.
• Digital asset business licensees must calculate and pay annual fees according to the prescribed formulas based on client receipts and licensed activity type.

Applies to

banks and deposit companies, corporate service providers, credit unions, money service businesses, insurers (all classes), insurance managers, brokers, agents and salesmen, investment business licensees, investment fund administrators, trust companies, digital asset business licensees

Deadlines

• 1 January 2019: Effective date of the 2019 fee schedule.
• 31 March 2019: Due date for annual fees under the Banks and Deposit Companies Act 1999, Corporate Service Provider Business Act 2012, Credit Unions Act 2010, Money Service Business Act 2016, and digital asset business annual fees.