Legislation to tighten up financial procedures and beef up the regulation of the insurance industry was given the green light by Senators yesterday.

Besides dealing with the regulation of financial procedures, the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act also aims to make it easier for whistleblowers to expose wrongdoing.

During the earlier debate on the bill in the House of Assembly, Shadow Finance Minister Pat Gordon-Pamplin called on the Government to insist upon a separate chairman and chief executive officer at the Bermuda Monetary Authority. Currently, Cheryl Ann Lister, the wife of Education Minister Terry Lister, holds both posts. Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin said the situation could lead to the BMA being criticised in the press.

Introducing the bill yesterday, PLP Senator Raymond Tannock said that the current dual position may not be the same in future, and that a separate chairman and CEO may need to be appointed. Provision for this has therefore been made in the bill. He said this would happen if in future no-one suitable to hold both roles could be found, or the workload was deemed too large.

United Bermuda Party Sen. Bob Richards said Mrs. Lister was ?an extraordinarily able person? but that the issue of separating the positions needed to be addressed and a KPMG report had recommended this.

He also attacked Finance Minister Paula Cox for what in his view was a failure to act quickly enough to defend the Island?s reputation as a business centre in the international media after a recent Wall Street Journal article criticised it.

PLP Sen. Walter Roban said he totally disagreed with these remarks. The Senators also passed the Insurance Amendment Act 2006 which puts in place more stringent regulations to satisfy the International Monetary Fund and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors.

The Act brings in tighter controls and tough penalties for those who break the rules or attempt to obstruct investigations into malpractice or deception.