Bank of BermudaShifting Most of its local operations from Cayman
Information has come to hand that Bank ofBermuda is shifting most of its Cayman operations to the Bermudaheadquarters as part of it's restructuring.
Owing to this move the Bank's workforcein the Cayman Islands will be reduced from 50 to eight peoplethrough transfers and redundancies.
It is understood that the bank's cash management,fund administration and fiduciary services offered to clientsfrom the Cayman office will now be supported from Bermuda, althoughit is reported that the Cayman operation will retain the necessarylicence and presence to ensure that the Bank's businesses continueto meet their respective client's local requirements.
One source quoted Chief Executive Officer,Henry Smith saying: "I would not want to make this announcementwithout paying tribute to our employees in the Cayman office,several of whom have been with us for a number of years. As weare only in the early stages of discussing implications of thisrestructure with our staff, I have no definite numbers as to howmany employees will stay with us and how many will be providedwith redundancy packages. Although we expect to retain approximatelyeight staff in the Cayman office, and we hope to redeploy someemployees in other locations, we recognise that not everyone willbe able or willing to move with us and will seek other opportunitieselsewhere. I would like to thank them for their dedication andcommitment and wish them well in their future endeavours."
"This kind of restructure has provedhighly successful for Bank of Bermuda in the Asia Pacific region,"continued Mr Smith. "It enables us to consolidate supportfunctions, and avoid duplication of activities. All three of ourglobal businesses have been reviewing their services in line withtheir business strategies and see benefits in this restructure.We expect it will make us a stronger and more focused organisationto do business with going forward."
It is believed that the pending shift bythe Bank of Bermuda may be a reaction to an increase at the beginningof the year of licensing fees, some of which were more than tripled.
Among the steepest increases was the feefor A class banks. An A class licence allows banks to conducton shore business while having a B licence only will restrictoperations to offshore. Most B class offshore banks do not needan A licence but many acquire it for its status symbol withinthe industry.
Bank of Bermuda had added the A class licenceto its portfolio.
Meanwhile a rumour in circulation is thatanother offshore bank established here for some 20 years, witha North American headquarters, may be contemplating a similarmove.
No senior official of that bank was availablefor comment to Cayman Net News, but an employee answering thephone said that such information is usually released from theNorth American headquarters, but was not in possession of a contactnumber for the headquarters.
These pieces of yet to be confirmed informationfollow a January announcement by Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS)that it plans moving most of its operations to the Bahamas.
UBS said the move to the Bahamas is partof its worldwide strategy to consolidate certain aspects of theoperations to jurisdictions that provide it with a particularcompetitive advantage.
At the time UBS Managing Director-MutualFunds, Mr. Sean Flynn, described the Cayman Islands as "anexcellent jurisdiction from both a legal and regulatory perspectivefor asset management."
Mr. Flynn also said that UBS will maintainthe bigger part of its operations in Cayman and that of the 20Caymanians expected to be affected by the restructuring exercise,13 or 14 are likely to be employed in the funds section.