Hat tip to Susan Stirling for alerting me to this:

Minister of Finance the Hon. Paula A. Cox, JP, MP announced in December that the Ministry of Finance had successfully concluded discussions with Swiss tax authorities concerning the application of Swiss home country rules for purposes of the EU Savings Directive (EUSD) on Bermuda domiciled non-retail funds.

During the course of the discussions the Swiss tax authorities confirmed to the Ministry of Finance that funds exempted from Bermuda’s Collective Investment Scheme Regulations 1998 would be out of scope for purposes of the EUSD in Switzerland.

Consequently, the CIS Regulations have been modified to clarify that non-retail funds offered exclusively to sophisticated investors could seek exemption from classification. Such funds would be registered by the Bermuda Monetary Authority and would have to meet minimum criteria including appointing an auditor, appointing a recognised fund administrator and retaining a local representative in Bermuda.

This puts Bermuda on a par with other OFCs and should stem the previous outflow of funds moving from Bermuda to Cayman to avoid the EUSD.