ICO: BMA made right decision on former DABA licence-holders
The Bermuda Monetary Authority was right to refuse to disclose a list of companies no longer licensed under the Digital Asset Business Act, according to the Information Commissioner.
Gitanjali Gutierrez said in a decision issued last week that she agreed with a decision to deny The Royal Gazette access to a list of companies “no longer licensed” and a list of companies with “removed” licences because of a secrecy provision in the BMA Act 1969.
Companies can engage in business involving virtual currencies if they are licensed by the authority under DABA.
Licensed firms appear on a list on the BMA’s website — 27 are listed — but their names disappear once they no longer hold a licence.
The BMA said in response to a public access to information request that it was only required to publish on its website a list of “every licensed undertaking and the class of licence issued to it” and other details were prohibited from disclosure.
It said it was required to publish a notice in the Official Gazette of every revocation of a DABA licence but that as of the date of its letter, which was January 10, 2023, none had been revoked.
The removal of a licence was distinct from revocation, it added, and confidentiality had to be maintained about such “supervisory information related to a licensed company”.
Ms Gutierrez wrote: “Unlike the BMA’s grant of a licence, an entity’s revocation, surrender or expiration of a licence may involve a confidential operational decision shared with the BMA or a supervisory action by the BMA to revoke a licence, both of which relate to the affairs of that entity.
“This is why information held by the BMA that an entity no longer holds a licence is confidential, but the fact that it currently holds a licence is not.”
In a separate decision, the Information Commissioner ordered the Cabinet Office to conduct a new search for records it may hold about memorandums of understanding the Government has entered into with fintech companies, and the staffing and budget of its former Fintech Office.
It transferred a request for various fintech-related records it received from The Royal Gazette in 2022 to the Ministry of Economic and Labour Headquarters.
Ms Gutierrez found, after a review of the decision, that it should have responded to parts of the request itself, as the Fintech Business Unit within the Cabinet Office had administrative oversight over the establishment of fintech initiatives in Bermuda from 2018 until 2020.
The commissioner told the Cabinet Office to look for the records and respond to the newspaper by April 10.
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