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Jonathan C. Clipper named Chief Executive Officer of Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited

 

 

February 13, 2012 (Hamilton, Bermuda) - Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited is pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan C. Clipper as its Chief Executive Officer.

 

Mr. Clipper joined the Board of the Bank as a non- executive director in August 2011 and succeeds Mr. Michael Collier, who will remain as Chairman of the BCB Board.

Mr. Clipper, a Bermudian, is Chairman and Managing Director of locally-incorporated Headland Management Ltd, a role he will maintain while assuming this new position. From July 2010 through the end of December 2010, Mr. Clipper was CEO of First Bermuda Group, during which time he oversaw the successful amalgamation of that business with Capital G Bank Ltd.

Mr. Clipper has significant international and local banking experience, locally with the Bank of Bermuda and internationally with Chase in London and Singapore and with Citibank, in London, Edinburgh and Hong Kong.

In his new role, Mr. Clipper will be responsible for managing the businesses of the BCB Group, setting the strategic plans, ensuring the Group companies meet their statutory obligations and maintaining the Group’s vision and values. He will also be responsible for the Group’s relationships with its external stakeholders, such as the Government and the Bermuda Monetary Authority, trade bodies, the media and the general public. He will report to the Board of Directors.

BCB Chairman, Mr. Michael Collier, said “Jonathan’s track record of over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry will provide an excellent foundation for BCB to expand its wealth management and commercial banking activities. I am delighted to hand over the reins to him and am confident that he will bring great value to our clients.”

BCB Deputy Chairman, Mr. Warren McLeland, said “I have known Jonathan since we were at Chase together in Asia in the 1980’s and warmly welcome him to this new role. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Michael for his role as Managing Director since the Bank was acquired by Permanent Investments Ltd in April, 2010. During his time as Managing Director, the Bank has been re-invigorated, and has been successfully turned around with the latest profit of $2.6 million as at the September 2011 year end. In addition, the bank is in an enviable position of a liquid balance sheet with the majority of assets in cash and near cash, and the substantial remainder in a diversified international bond portfolio.”

Mr. Clipper holds an M.Phil. in Business Administration from Oxford University, which he attended as a Bermuda Rhodes Scholar, and an Honours Degree in Biology from the University of York. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries.

-ENDS-

Media Contact:
Carrie Thatcher
Marketing & Communications Manager
Bermuda Commercial Bank
Tel: 441-299-2884
Email: cthatcher@bcb.bm

Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited is one of Bermuda’s four licensed banks, established in 1969 and regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. It is Bermuda’s only bank focused purely on corporate and private wealth clients, offering a range of bespoke financial solutions. BCB’s website is www.bcb.bm and its shares are publicly traded and listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange www.bsx.com (Ticker: BCB.BH). BCB’s share price is available on the BSX and on Bloomberg and is published daily in the Royal Gazette.

 

 

 



Best Private Bank in Bermuda 2011

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank winner of Best Private Bank in Bermuda 2011 according to World Finance.

 

 


 


What we can learn from the credit-fuelled housing boom and why it went bust

 

December 3, 2011 (Royal Gazette) - Part III. How the debt crisis spread globally and now weighs heavily on the world economy.

 

The question that I hear asked the most about the current financial crisis that we are living through is: “Why has a mortgage crisis and real estate crash in the US affected the entire global economy?” The answer to that question is that the vast changes in attitude toward savings and indebtedness by western governments, corporations, and households over the last 30 years, caused the financial sector to experience enormous growth in demand for its services. That demand was global in scope.

 

Thus by the early 1980s finance, especially banking, had become the world's first globally connected enterprise model. Today the world's largest banks and finance companies operate 24/6, in every time zone and in every geographic jurisdiction. In other words, the globalisation of banking and finance made the contagion possible.

 

Finance 101

Financially speaking, there are two types of people in this world: people with incomes that produce a surplus against their expenses in any given year, and people with incomes that are insufficient to cover all of their expenses in any given year. The first group of persons is typically called “savers” and spending beyond one's annual income typically has to be financed in some way. This can range from using a credit card to taking out a mortgage.

 

The same holds true for populations in aggregate too; there are countries that are net savers, or net providers of capital to the global economy, and there are countries that are aggregate spenders, or borrowers of the world's capital, on a net basis, annually.

 

According to the CIA World Factbook, which analyses the economies of 197 countries, the United States had a current account deficit of $470 billion in 2010; the world's largest current account deficit for that year. The US was not alone in the deficit column, and was followed in descending order by Italy, Spain, the UK, France and India. The CIA World Factbook lists China as having recorded a $305.4 billion current account surplus in 2010, the worlds largest, followed by Germany, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands, and Singapore.

 

Countries with current account deficits cannot meet their annual consumption and investment needs out of their current income or from domestic savings/borrowings and thus have to borrow their net deficit from other surplus countries.

 

Financial intermediation is the business activity of accumulating the savings of all the savers and arranging to lend those funds to the net borrowers, either directly or via other financial intermediaries that act as secondary middlemen. Financial intermediation is performed by banks, money market funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, insurance companies, investment banks, credit unions, stock exchanges, commodities exchanges, clearing houses, pension plans, and even government agencies in some countries.

 

The financial sector in developed economies has grown tremendously over the last 30 years as the accumulated wealth (savings) and the annual consumption and investment needs, of the developed world has grown. That growth, in both savings and consumption, has been primarily driven by the initial coming of age, and then the maturing, of the post-world war II “baby boom” population, those born 1946 to 1965. This baby boom demographic grouping is the largest population grouping in the United States, Canada, the UK, Bermuda, and many other developed countries.

 

The baby boom population in all of these countries began forming households in the early 1970s. This increased the need for financial services. The financial sector responded to the increased demand (and more importantly, to the forecasted increases in future demand) with a 30 year period of growth accommodation via industry consolidation. Banks and other financial service providers began to merge and buy out rivals at an increasing pace through the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s.

 

 

 

 


What we can learn from the credit-fuelled housing boom and why it went bust

 

November 26, 2011 (Royal Gazette) - Part II “Crash and Contagion” How the US credit bubble burst wide open and crashed.

 

As I outlined in the first segment of this column, I believe that the central cause of the global financial crisis that began in 2007, which is still ongoing, was the massive amount of debt that households and governments in the western developed nations accumulated in the period 1965 to 2010.

 

Compounding and complicating those debts is the huge amount of debt held by the private sector, especially the global banking and finance sector that financed those households and governments.

The current crisis is the result of a now globally held fear that a significant portion of this accumulated debt, whether it was borrowed by governments, by global banks and finance companies, or by households, now cannot be repaid.

 

How was this “descent into indebtedness”, to the point of potential catastrophe, possible to arrive at?

The answer is that it was possible due to the following:

 

1 ) The initial relatively low level of outstanding debt held by these sectors (especially households) at the beginning of this debt cycle;

 

2) The strong AAA credit ratings ascribed to the United States and other leading western governments and economies by ratings agencies and lenders which gave the lenders comfort to lend;

 

3) The decline in inflation and market interest rates in the US, the EU, and elsewhere, after the former Communist Bloc nations in Eastern Europe and Asia opened their economies to global trade and competition. Benchmark rates utilised to set US mortgage rates, for example, dropped from over 16% in 1981, to just over 2.75% in 2010;

 

4) The lower interest rates made housing more affordable and contributed to a nearly constant rise in house prices (the collateral for household borrowing) and stock and bond prices (collateral for corporate borrowing) in the US and the UK especially;

 

And 5) A deregulated, increasingly globalised, and increasingly aggressive banking and non-bank finance industry (known as the “Shadow Banking” Industry), which was very focused on property lending and financing.

 

The debts were accumulated slowly and incrementally, from the early seventies through the early nineties, financing every day activities like corporate mergers and acquisitions, new housing developments (public and private), public education, healthcare, University educations, old age pensions, and kitchen and bathroom refurbishments, among other things. A debt culture developed and was increasingly adopted all over the world.

 

A Man's House is his … ATM machine?

 

As housing prices continued rising through the 2000 to 2006 period they outpaced the replacement costs of new homes by significant margins that had never been experienced before, especially in locales where financial leverage was being applied the most liberally. Thus the annual growth rates of debt accumulation tied to real estate accelerated as well.

 

This increased the level of household debt relative to household incomes, national GDPs, and relative to underlying collateral values.

 

Home ownership was increasingly hyped and marketed to the public, mainly by politicians and mortgage brokers in the US, and by banks elsewhere, as a sure path to prosperity and wealth.

 

The accelerating pace of house price appreciation encouraged large corporate residential property developers to debt-finance the purchase of more tracts of vacant land in the suburbs, and even the exurbs, of major metropolitan areas.

 

They launched new single family home development projects in places like the suburbs of Las Vegas, and new multistory housing developments in previously spurned urban areas, like downtown Miami, for example.

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BCB Reports Underlying Operating Profit of $2.60 Million, Net Profit of $12.62 Million

 

November 23, 2011 (Hamilton, Bermuda) - Details of the financial results and operations of Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited ("BCB" or "the Bank") for the financial year ending September 30, 2011 are as follows:

 

Financial Performance Highlights

 

Operational Performance

Chairman, Mr. Michael Collier, stated that "we are building the leading Bermuda bank serving commercial banking and private wealth clients around the world. Our conservative approach to banking, along with our focus on service excellence, has shown results in stronger business and improved operating results. The Bank's balance sheet, capital position and profitability continue to grow; driven by new deposits and strong increases in interest income."

 

Interest income increased to $11.40 million from $4.15 million in 2010. This increase was driven by the reallocation of a portion of the Bank's balance sheet out of cash products and into a diversified portfolio of higher yielding securities. This reallocation commenced in the second half of 2010 and the Bank benefited from a full year of interest income in fiscal 2011. The Bank also recorded increased interest income on its small but growing loan portfolio.

 

Interest expense increased to $1.86 million compared to $0.39 million a year earlier. This increase reflects the almost doubling of our customer term deposit balances along with the competitive deposit interest rates now being offered by the Bank.

 

In addition to the increased underlying operating profit the Bank also recorded a onetime gain of $10.01 million on its investment in West Hamilton Holdings Limited ("WHH"). During the year the Bank purchased 40.8% of WHH. As part of the acquisition process the Bank performed a fair value assessment of its investment resulting in a large premium over cost. The increase related primarily to the valuation of WHH's land and property. We exclude this gain from our discussions on operational performance as the gain does not reflect any element of underlying performance.

 

The Bank realised gains of $4.45 million following the sale of financial investments during the year. This compares to gains of $3.89 million in 2010. These gains were somewhat offset by impairment losses of $2.49 million on the Bank's investment portfolio. These impairment loss levels are consistent with the Bank's internal loss expectations. The Bank incurred hedging costs of $2.42 million in relation to the Bank's investment portfolio. This compares to a net hedging gain of $0.16 million in 2010. These costs, primarily foreign exchange and equity index hedging, reduce the risk associated with foreign currency and market price fluctuations.

 

Total expenses increased by 8.4% from $9.25 million to $10.03 million. This increase was driven by a $0.82 million increase in payroll costs following the expansion and strengthening of our professional employee base as our business grows. Additionally, investment advisory fees and business development costs increased by $0.49 million and $0.36 million respectively following the growth of our investment portfolio and our increased marketing activities. 2010 expenses also included a non recurring sale process advisory fee of $1.00 million.

 

During the year ended September 30, 2011, the Bank recorded a $7.61 million unrealised loss within other comprehensive income compared to a loss of $1.86 million for 2010. This loss stemmed from a negative mark to market revaluation of the Bank's available-for-sale financial investment portfolio. It is management's judgment that such losses will reverse over time and ultimately will add value to the Bank. Indeed, in the month following our September 2011 year end valuations, this loss was almost entirely eliminated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

E-Newsletter | November 2011

 

 

 

 

 

Understanding the Financial Crisis of 2008 – 2011

 


Written by Dane Commissiong
Dane Commissiong is the Treasurer of Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited. He has held senior treasury, finance and capital markets positions in the banking, reinsurance, and hedge fund industries. Mr. Commissiong specializes in analyzing and trading the global money, bond, and foreign exchange markets, and has professionally managed over USD 7 billion during his career. He is a graduate of the University of Miami, where he studied English literature and finance.

 

Part 1 - The Illusion of Prosperity
To even the casual observer of the global economy it is painfully obvious that all is not well economically, both here in Bermuda and abroad. Daily economic headlines in our local newspapers and websites read almost verbatim with headlines found in overseas publications.  News reports of economic dysfunction are rife, with almost daily reports of layoffs, bankruptcies, business relocations to other jurisdictions, intractable government budget deficits, falling asset prices, high levels of private indebtedness, and highly volatile capital markets.
Throughout the western developed economies average middle class people are at a loss to explain what is happening to their living standards (in Greece especially I imagine), having never experienced this level of economic fallout before in their lives. Even elected political leaders and senior government finance officials in these countries are at loss to explain how their economies have managed to arrive at the precarious position they find themselves at today. I believe that the best explanation is simply that a great deal of the prosperity experienced since the early 1980s was an economic illusion created by a global credit bubble that burst in 2008.  The fallout from that burst credit bubble is what is driving today’s news headlines of economic dysfunction.
Let me first describe the path that led the world’s developed economies to the current crisis.

 

Roots of the crisis
The roots of the economic dysfunction we are living through today could be said to have originated in the early 1960’s when many western governments expanded access to what are now considered core social programs – free public primary and secondary education, expanded access to subsidized university education, national pension systems for the elderly, and government funded or subsidized health care benefits. The introduction of these programs in North America and Western Europe during the late 1950’s to mid-1960’s represented a large expansion of the role of government in the economy and helped widen and broaden the middle classes.
The best example of this socio/economic, and ultimately political, dynamic is the United States. From 1964 to 1968 US President Lyndon Johnson, following on from Roosevelt’s Great Depression-era “New Deal” initiatives and Kennedy’s unfinished “New Frontier” social initiatives, introduced a set of domestic social reforms aimed at reducing the level of poverty in the United States.  These reforms and initiatives were known as the “Great Society” programs and included initiatives to create, reform, and or expand the role of the US federal government in the following areas: ending racial discrimination against Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans; expanding access to primary, secondary, and university education; funding increased access to health care (via Medicare and Medicaid), employment training (the Job Corps), reducing hunger (food stamps), increasing social security pensions, providing funding for development of the arts and humanities, the creation of the public television system, the funding of US cultural centers and museums, development of a national transportation system (air, rail, and highway), developing a consumer protection framework (such as cigarette warning labels), and increased protection of the environment.

However, at the same time the Johnson administration was expanding both the war in Vietnam and the arms race with the Eastern Bloc communist nations. Thus, US military spending was increasing at the same time as the government was expanding spending on social programs. Both initiatives competed for the same finite financial resources of the US government at the time. The US essentially decided to pay for both “guns and butter” by increasing its deficit financing rather than raising taxes. Ultimately some of the new social program initiatives had to be trimmed back or eliminated as the military incrementally consumed more US financial resources. This decision was a historic one as it was critical in setting the direction of the financial conduct of the US (and other countries, like Bermuda) for the following three and a half decades.

 

 

 

 

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited –Amalgamation with Paragon Trust Ltd and Charter Corporate Services Ltd Completed

 

 

October 4, 2011(Hamilton, Bermuda)- Bermuda Commercial Bank ('BCB' or the 'Bank'), is pleased to announce that the amalgamation of Paragon Trust Ltd. And Charter Corporate Services Ltd was completed today. The combined entities will operate as subsidiaries of BCB under the names of BCB Paragon Trust Ltd and BCB Charter Corporate Services Ltd. The current offices of Paragon and Charter at "Trinity Hall", 43 Cedar Avenue in Hamilton will become the centre for Private Wealth services for BCB.

 

Michael Collier, Chairman of BCB, commented "We are very pleased with the completion of the amalgamation process and are looking forward to the future with our new wealth management centre at Trinity Hall. We are excited about expanding our Private Wealth business and this amalgamation solidifies our strategic positioning."


As stated in the 2010 annual report, BCB's goal is to become the recognized leader for customer service in Bermuda. The amalgamation further strengthens BCB's platform and ability to deliver tailored financial solutions to the bank's global clients. Paragon and Charter's stellar reputations and established success within their individual markets will help to boost the bank's current range of services and strengthen BCB's position as Bermuda's full-service, boutique premier wealth management financial institution.

Luciano Aicardi, Managing Director of Paragon and Charter, stated that, "Paragon and Charter are excited to be working with the entire BCB team. This is a great platform for all of our products and services and we will now be able to offer our clients a complete turn-key service."

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank Contact:
Horst Finkbeiner, COO
Tel: (441) 295 5678

Click here to email Mr. Finkbeiner


Paragon Trust Ltd. Contact:
Luciano Aicardi, Managing Director
Tel: (441) 295 7105

Click here to email Mr. Aicardi

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited is one of Bermuda's four licensed banks, established in 1969 and regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. It is Bermuda's only bank focused purely on corporate and private wealth clients, offering a range of bespoke financial solutions. BCB's website is www.bcb.bm and its shares are publicly traded and listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange www.bsx.com (Ticker: BCB.BH). BCB's share price is available on the BSX and on Bloomberg and is published daily in the Royal Gazette.

 

Paragon Trust Ltd. ('Paragon') is a fully-licensed Bermuda trust company that offers a complete range of trust services, including the establishment and administration of commercial and private trusts. It also offers estate planning and executorships, as well as estate administration.

 

Charter Corporate Services Ltd. ('Charter') is a full-service corporate administration company providing a range of services to local and international clients. Charter provides corporate administrative services to both local and exempted companies, which operate in a wide range of sectors including insurance and reinsurance, insurance management, aircraft holding and leasing, mutual funds, ship owning and chartering, landholding and investment holding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

en.SafeWatch Profiling Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Reduce Risk, Cost and Complexity with EastNets

 


International regulatory pressures on banks to combat money laundering and terrorist financing have intensified at an unprecedented rate. That's why it is important for financial institutions to ensure they have efficient systems in place to meet compliance regulations and provide effective defenses against money laundering, terrorist financing and financial crime.

 

Cost-Effective, Robust and Rapidly Deployable

EastNets offers a cost-effective and rapidly deployable anti-money laundering solution with en.SafeWatch Profiling. Fully-integrated with EastNets' market-leading watchlist filtering solution used today by over 350 clients in 80 countries, en.SafeWatch Profiling provides a robust, effective and easy-to-use solution that is configurable and flexible to adapt to new risks and regulations. en.SafeWatch Profiling serves as the central data processing, trend analysis and suspicious behavior identification engine to identify suspicious activity. The solution includes advanced customer and account profiling, risk score management and peer group analysis, know your customer (KYC) controls, case management and regulatory reporting.

 

Out-of-the Box Functionality

en.SafeWatch Profiling is a turnkey solution designed with predefined import formats, predefined business rules, and predefined reports. It is, however, easily configurable to extend and integrate with your own applications and formats. en.SafeWatch is a web-based application based on standard databases and platforms, is built on an open architecture, and is easily integrated with any banking application for data capture.

 

Cost-Effective AML Solution to Help You:
• Manage and Control Risk
• Ensure Compliance with AML Laws and Regulations
• Control Costs with Rapid Deployment and Implementation
• Reduce Workload with Reduced False Positives
• Streamline Processes and Improve Operational Efficiencies

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited – Acquisition of local Trust
and Corporate Service Companies

 


September 1, 2011(Hamilton, Bermuda) Bermuda Commercial Bank ('BCB' or the 'Bank') is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to amalgamate Paragon Trust Ltd. ('Paragon') and Charter Corporate Services Ltd. ('Charter') with two of BCB's subsidiaries. The current offices of Paragon and Charter at "Trinity Hall", 43 Cedar Avenue in Hamilton, will become the centre for Private Wealth services for BCB. The amalgamation is expected to complete on 4 October 2011.

As stated in the 2010 annual report, BCB's goal is to become the recognized leader for customer service in Bermuda. The Bank is also keen to expand its existing business areas and undertake strategic acquisitions in sectors such as Trust and Corporate Services. These amalgamations will allow the Bank to provide an expanded range of services, thereby enhancing its position in the private banking and wealth management sector. BCB continues to remain focused on delivering exceptional service to private wealth and corporate clients both in Bermuda and abroad.

Paragon was established in 1997 and is a fully licensed Bermuda trust company that offers a complete range of trust services, including the establishment and administration of commercial and private trusts. It also offers estate planning and executorships, as well as estate administration. Charter was established in 1999 as a full-service corporate administration company providing a range of services to local and international clients. Charter provides corporate administrative and secretarial services to both local and exempted companies, which operate in a wide range of sectors including insurance and reinsurance, insurance management, aircraft holding and leasing, mutual funds, ship owning & chartering, landholding and investment holding. In addition, Charter administers companies incorporated in other jurisdictions where permitted by applicable law.

Paragon and Charter have eight (8) full time staff members. Both companies have an excellent reputation in Bermuda and their focus on superior customer service will ensure that they will make an excellent fit with the Bank's existing operations.

Michael Collier, Chairman of BCB, noted that the amalgamation with Paragon and Charter is consistent with BCB's strategic objectives and overall business goals of creating a full-service, boutique premier wealth management financial institution. "We are pleased to welcome the staff and clients of both Paragon and Charter into the BCB group and are excited about the opportunities this provides for the amalgamated group and all of its clients. This amalgamation is an excellent strategic fit with BCB's current direction and future plans for growth in the domestic market, and on a consolidated basis this strengthens our competitive position to serve both our local and international clients."

Luciano Aicardi, Managing Director of Paragon and Charter, stated that, "We are delighted with these amalgamations, both because of the new range of banking products that will be available to our clients and for the business opportunities that will be available to the amalgamated group. We will continue to provide our clients with the level and quality of service that they have always enjoyed at Paragon and Charter, while being able to offer them an enhanced range of products and services as part of the BCB Group of Companies. I look forward to working with our new BCB colleagues and I believe that our Paragon and Charter teams will be able to bring added value to the group".

-ENDS-

Media Contacts:
Horst Finkbeiner, COO
Bermuda Commercial Bank
Tel: 441-295-5678
Email: hfinkbeiner@bcb.bm

Luciano Aicardi, Managing Director
Paragon Trust Ltd.
Tel: 441-295-7105
Email: luciano.aicardi@law.bm

Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited is one of Bermuda’s four licensed banks, established in 1969 and regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.  It is Bermuda’s only bank focused purely on corporate and private wealth clients, offering a range of bespoke financial solutions.  BCB’s website is www.bcb.bm and its shares are publicly traded and listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange www.bsx.com (Ticker: BCB.BH).  BCB’s share price is available on the BSX and on Bloomberg and is published daily in the Royal Gazette.

Paragon Trust Ltd. (‘Paragon’) is a fully-licensed Bermuda trust company that offers a complete range of trust services, including the establishment and administration of commercial and private trusts. It also offers estate planning and executorships, as well as estate administration.

Charter Corporate Services Ltd. ('Charter') is a full-service corporate administration company providing a range of services to local and international clients. Charter provides corporate administrative services to both local and exempted companies, which operate in a wide range of sectors including insurance and reinsurance, insurance management, aircraft holding and leasing, mutual funds, ship owning and chartering, landholding and investment holding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

IceCap Asset Management featured in Wall Street Journal

 

August 23rd | The Wall Street Journal

 

 

 

 

 

 

E-Newsletter | August 2011

 

 

 

 

 

Clipper Joins BCB Board

 

August 4th | RoyalGazette.com

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank Ltd has announced the appointment of Jonathan Clipper to its board of directors.

 

Mr Clipper, who has more than 30 years of international experience in the financial sector, is the managing director of Headland Management Ltd, a Bermuda company specialising in providing independent directors for exempt company boards and offshore funds.

 

After receiving his MBA at Oxford as Bermuda’s Rhodes Scholar, he spent 13 years at Chase Manhattan and 12 years at Citibank respectively, serving financial institutions. He had two stints overseas in Singapore and Hong Kong, and was Citibank’s managing director in Edinburgh, Scotland for three years.

Mr Clipper is a director of numerous offshore funds and companies, and is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.

 

Michael Collier, chairman and managing director of Bermuda Commercial Bank, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jonathan Clipper to the board. He brings with him a vast array of experience and knowledge. I am excited at the prospect of being joined on the board by such a capable individual with a proven track record in his own areas. His appointment further strengthens the BCB board. I am honoured to welcome Mr Clipper.”

 

 

 

 

Asset Manager Wins New Business

 

July 18, 2011 | Allnovascotia.com

Halifax-based IceCap Asset Management has signed an investment advisory agreement to provide discretionary management services for clients of the Bermuda Commercial Bank.


IceCap president Keith Dicker, a CFA, said the agreement marks a significant global expansion of his independent portfolio management company, which he founded in 2010.


IceCap manages assets of $70 million and is on pace to meet its year-one goal of surpassing $100 million, Dicker said.


The Newfoundland native spent 10 years as a senior portfolio manager and head of global equities with Butterfield, Bermuda's first and largest independent bank.


BCB chairman Michael Collier called the agreement "a natural fit" for his bank, which focuses solely on commercial, corporate and high end worth individuals. He lauded IceCap's "conservative" investment approach and a shared investment strategy.


IceCap portfolios primarily consist of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).


"ETFs are growing by leaps and bounds," Collier said, adding the ETF global market has grown in recent years from $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion.


Dicker said a typical investor has a 60-40 split in stocks and bonds. He encourages a more diverse portfolio combining commodities with stocks and bonds.


The company is underweight in stocks and commodities, while preferring bonds over cash, said a company release this month.


IceCap encourages investors to hold 15% of their portfolio in gold, as a haven investment to ride out the sovereign debt crisis.


"With the world's four largest currencies trapped in economic hell, gold should be a major component of most investment strategies," a release says.


IceCap offers a plain language market commentary in its monthly global outlook newsletter, available online, which is read by people in over 40 countries and has been featured in the Globe and Mail's Report on Business section.


IceCap is a two-man business. John Corney, a personal financial planner and trust estate practitioner, acts as senior vice-president of client relations.


Collier, who is also chairman of Ascendant Group Ltd. and its wholly owned subsidiary, the Bermuda Electric Light Company Ltd., retired as Butterfield president in 1996 after 34 years with the bank, and has known Dicker for 10 years.

 

 

 


Property developer seeks to reduce debt with rights issue

 

Property developer West Hamilton Holdings Ltd is seeking to raise $9.3 million in a rights issue.

In an announcement through the Bermuda Stock Exchange today, the company said most of the proceeds would be used to pay off bank debt.

 

The company is developing the Belvedere Place office buildings project on Pitts Bay Road on the 2.1 acre site of the former Bermuda Bakery. It will comprise 50,000 sq ft of office space.

 

Eligible shareholders of the company, as of July 4, will receive one transferable right for every share of common stock held.

 

Each right will entitle the holder to purchase one new share of common stock at the subscription price of $6.50 per share. This represents a discount of 15 percent, based on the weighted average price of $7.65 for the previous 12 months.

 

“We felt that due to the current downturn in the economy it would be advantageous at this time to reduce debt and thereby reduce the consequent carrying costs,” said West Hamilton’s chief financial officer Harrichand Sukdeo in the statement. “West Hamilton believes the benefit of the discount between the offer price and current market price should first be shared with the current shareholders.

 

“We are seeing increased expressions of interest from companies viewing the east side of our Pitts Bay Road site which, when fully developed, we hope will become a centre of international commerce in Bermuda. It is our view that the Company needs to position itself to take advantage of this potential growth, but in the interim manage its business through this difficult economic environment. Deleveraging will also reduce the demand on working capital and in turn reduce the level of business liquidity risk,” Mr. Sukdeo concluded.

 

The offering is being underwritten by Bermuda Commercial Bank Ltd.

 

BCB COO Horst Finkbeiner said: “We are very pleased to underwrite the West Hamilton rights issue, and with it, expand our portfolio of corporate finance services to include underwriting, as well as listing and international brokerage.”

 

Trading of rights is scheduled to start on July 5 and to finish on July 19. The rights offering closing date is July 22, while new shares will be issued to shareholders on or about August 1, 2011.

 

All queries regarding the rights offering should be directed to the “West Hamilton Helpdesk Hotline” at 295-5985 between 9am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.

 

 

 


Bermuda Commercial Bank Invests in People, Technology and Customers. The one/two punch on mitigating risk and achieving
banking compliance.

 

By Drew Barrows - In a tumultuous economic environment, risk and compliance practices are more important than ever. Globalization has changed the way many businesses operate. As their marketplace swells and diversifies with a growing number of channels and cross-border transactions, risk management and compliance have become top strategic priorities for many banks.


The situation has been intensified by crises in financial markets around the world. This is why banks are finding it imperative to deploy better and more cost-effective strategies to mitigate financial crime and meet
regulatory requirements. For instance the Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited (BCB), the only bank in
Bermuda that is focused solely on commercial, corporate, fund, and private wealth individuals, deemed it necessary to develop a robust compliance practice that maintains the security of their funds, as well as the funds of their customers. Part of BCB's strategy is that it is pro-active, pre-emptive and hands-on in safeguarding its business, its funds and servicing its customers.

 

"We have a clear vision on the way we like to do business and part of that vision entails understanding the importance of balancing compliance and risk without sacrificing the quality and responsiveness of our services," says Horst Finkbeiner, Director and COO of Bermuda Commercial Bank. These "moments of truth" represent important opportunities for banks to assess their customer service capabilities and to ensure a proper alignment of investments with customer needs as BCB has long been prudent in doing without compromising the strength of the banks compliance and risk policies. Bad customer service experiences often translate to lower balances and lost business for banks. And typically banks will turn to automation and technology to improve upon the customer's banking experience while mitigating risk and ensuring compliance. BCB is implementing Misys' BankFusion Universal Banking and has enhanced its customer service experience as well as expanded its product portfolio and banking services. Misys' in-depth global knowledge of connectivity to SWIFT complements EastNets' real-time transaction monitoring and SWIFT reporting solution used by BCB. BankFusion provides a systematic roadmap for bringing new products to market more quickly and efficiently.

 

Banks have long recognized the advantages of deploying technology to improve the value, speed and flexibility of their product offering to customers. Particularly in today's highly competitive banking industry, bank technology is a vital element that can be used to help a bank differentiate itself. This is especially true on the retail front where banks tend to offer newer technologydriven channels to customers such as ATMs and Internet banking.


BCB is fully aware of the risks inherent in EFT, the electronic exchange or transfer of money from one account to another, either within the same financial institution or across multiple institutions in terms of pinpointing unusual transaction patterns or trends. "We have developed a straight-through processing
environment that actually allows our team to utilize their better professional judgement and proactively react in real time to any unusual activity," says Finkbeiner. BCB applies a strategic approach that involves the automation of routine processes so that its people have the freedom to improve operations, reduce costs, and prepare for growth.


In order to protect their customers and the bank against fraud, BCB is proactive in training their staff on how to the identify risks associated with EFTs and all banking transactions. BCB manages risk through a combination of an extremely conservative risk policy in balance sheet management in addition to applying robust compliance risk management technologies. The bank deployed the en.SafeWatch Profiling anti-money launderingm application from EastNets as part of its automatedcentral data processing, trend/pattern analysis and suspicious behavior identification processes. EastNets banking technologies supports the bank's transaction monitoring initiative. For instance, the bank utilizes EastNets' Watchlist Filtering solution primarily to routinely scan current and prospective clients against a database (watch list) consisting of names, aka and address entries.

 

 

 

 


Bermuda Commercial Bank proudly supports "Bermuda - Premier International Finance Centre" publication, May 2011.

 

 



Bermuda Commercial Bank reports net profit of $1.35 million for the half-year ended March 31, 2011. Customer deposits show strong growth. Directors declare half-year dividend.

 

(Hamilton, Bermuda, May 12, 2011) - Details of the financial results and operations of Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited ("BCB" or "the Bank") for the six months ended March 31, 2011 are as follows: BCB reported a profit of $1.35 million for the six months ended March 31, 2011 equating to fully diluted earnings per share of $0.20. This compares with a net loss of $1.47 million for the six months ended March 31, 2010. Additionally, we recorded a $5.52 million unrealised gain on our investment portfolio. Total revenue for the period was $5.74 million compared to $2.45 million in the prior period. Michael Collier, Chairman, stated that "Our improved earnings reflect strong interest income on our investments matched by solid growth in customer deposits."


"The Bank's profit together with the pleasing unrealised gain on our investment portfolio boosted shareholders' equity to $82.58 million at March 31, 2011 compared with $74.96 million at September 30, 2010. Our capital ratio, which is a measure of liquidity and stability, was 18.6% at period end, significantly higher than the general industry standards and a clear indication of the strength of BCB's balance sheet," said Mr. Collier.


"Overall we are pleased with the steady growth of the Bank's deposit base and profitability since the completion of the sale of the Bank to the new investor group in April 2010. Over the course of the last twelve months, we have made it a management priority to strengthen the Bank from the ground upwards. We have improved our employee and management depth by retaining new professionals, and continue to invest in new state-of-theart technologies and streamlined processes in all operational areas. We are indeed pleased to have received the 2011 Kinetic Process Innovation Award for Banking Technology Application Excellence. Our existing customers will have seen the roll out of new products," stated Mr. Collier.

Net Interest Income
Total interest income increased substantially to $4.84 million compared with $0.94 million one year ago. This increase was driven by the reallocation of a portion of the Bank's balance sheet into a diversified and liquid investment portfolio. BCB also recorded increased interest income on the Bank's small short term loan portfolio. Interest income on our cash and money market funds decreased slightly versus 2010 as interest rates continued to reduce. Interest expense increased to $0.67 million from $0.15 million following a 79.2% increase in customer term deposits since September 2010. Additionally, the maturity of these term deposits lengthened resulting in a more stable but expensive source of funding.

 

Non Interest Income
Non interest income includes a number of changes from the prior year period following the Bank's diversification into a number of new areas. Foreign exchange and hedging costs result primarily from
the costs of hedging our investment portfolio and should be measured in the context of our increased investment interest income, the gains on sale of investments and the unrealised gains on the investment portfolio.

 

Dividend income of $0.09 million was recorded on the Bank's new investment portfolio.


Fees and commissions revenue increased to $1.38 million from $1.05 million following increased business in our banking, trust and corporate services departments. Gains from the sale of investments were $1.51 million, up from $0.25 million a year earlier. As part of BCB's risk and liquidity management process, portfolio investments may be sold resulting in gains and losses for the Bank. During the six months ended March 31, 2011, the Bank's investments performed well leading to a net overall appreciation of the portfolio.


Expenses
Total expenses for the first six months increased by 12.0% to $4.39 million compared with $3.92 million for the same period last year. This increase was driven by higher payroll related costs as we increased our employee headcount in response to our expanding business requirements. General and administrative expenses were also higher compared with 2010 as we increased our local market advertising initiatives.


Financial Position
Total assets increased to $506.96 million at March 31, 2011 from $409.66 million at September 30, 2010 reflecting a $94.89 million increase in customer deposits. While the majority of the balance sheet remains invested in short term interbank and money market funds, the Bank has increased its investment portfolio to $146.34 million at March 31, 2011 from $82.41 million at September 30, 2010. "BCB has utilised the expertise within its investor group to build and manage a diversified securities portfolio. This diversification, across industry, geography and currency has reduced the overall volatility of our interest income while at the same time providing good liquidity and strong revenue growth for the Bank. The unrealised investment gain of $5.52 million has resulted primarily from increases in the investment portfolio as yields have fallen," stated Mr. Collier.

 

"BCB has restructured its balance sheet from the enviable starting position of essentially holding all money market and securities investments. This has resulted in good pricing and significantly stronger liquidity compared to our peer banks that remain heavily invested in customer loan and mortgage products. Our balance sheet remains straightforward with transparent investments, and is guarded by our conservative capital position," stated Mr. Collier.

 

Banks must perform testing to evaluate how well they can weather problems in their balance sheet. This stress testing looks at the impact of a reduction in value of the bank's "risk assets" which includes loans, mortgages and other investments. Banks with a higher ratio of risk assets to capital are more vulnerable to movements in valuation. BCB maintains an extremely conservative and robust ratio of less than 3:1, compared to industry averages of around 12:1. Customer deposit balances increased strongly from $323.61 million at September 30, 2010 to $418.50 million at March 31, 2011. "Higher commercial and personal deposits were driven by the success of our recently launched and highly attractive fixed deposit offerings along with a steady stream of new business," Mr. Collier said. "Furthermore, this deposit growth has been heavily weighted towards longer maturing fixed deposits resulting in a deeper, more stable deposit base."


Interim Dividend
The Board of Directors has resolved that a semi-annual dividend of $0.10 per share will be paid to shareholders of record as of May 18, 2011.


Summary
Mr. Collier said "Our longer-term shareholders will have noticed that the Bank has changed significantly over the last year – changes that will serve and benefit our growing customer base. BCB seeks to broaden its market share in Bermuda, while we are also considering overseas opportunities. As a result of these efforts and investments we are confidently looking to the future from a position of strength."


About Bermuda Commercial Bank

Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited (BCB) is one of Bermuda's four licensed banks, established in 1969 and regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. Bermuda Commercial Bank is Bermuda's only bank focused purely on corporate and private wealth clients, offering a range of bespoke financial solutions. Bermuda Commercial Bank takes pride in ensuring clients' assets are safely and professionally managed at our Hamilton based office. For more information please visit our website www.bcb.bm. BCB is publicly traded and listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange www.bsx.com (Ticker: BCB.BH). Our share price is
available on the BSX and on Bloomberg and is published daily in the Royal Gazette.


For further information please contact:
Horst Finkbeiner, Chief Operating Officer
Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited
(441) 299-2873
Email Horst

 

 

 

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank yesterday announced a $1.35 million net profit for the six months through March 2011, as revenues more than doubled and client deposits rose by almost one third.

 

The bank is going through a period of rejuvenation under new owners who took control of the bank a year ago, after a three-year period of limbo when the bank was seeking a buyer and the business was effectively put on hold.

 

The net earnings announced yesterday equated to fully diluted earnings of 20 cents per share compared to a net loss of $1.47 million for the same period a year earlier.

 

The board of directors declared an interim dividend of 10 cents per share for shareholders of record as of May 18, 2011.

 

Total revenue for the period was $5.74 million compared to $2.45 million in the prior year period. BCB saw a 29 percent increase in client deposits during the six months to $418.5 million from $323.61 million.

BCB also recorded a $5.52 million unrealised gain on its investment portfolio.

 

Shareholders' equity rose more than 10 percent to $82.58 million at March 31, 2011, compared with $74.96 million six months earlier.

 

Total interest income increased fivefold to $4.84 million, compared with $0.94 million one year ago. This increase was driven by the reallocation of a portion of the bank's balance sheet into a diversified and liquid investment portfolio.

 

BCB's chief operating officer Horst Finkbeiner, who has been with the BCB since 2006, said the bank had made great strides since it was taken over by Permanent Investments Ltd last year, led by former Butterfield Bank CEO Michael Collier, who is chairman of BCB.

 

“We were in a state of limbo during the sale process, but now we are rejuvenated and back in the market,” Mr Finkbeiner said.

 

One of the bank's main thrusts had been to attract a broader deposit base by offering attractive rates, such as 3.75 percent for a four-year fixed-term deposit. Much of the $95 million increase in deposits during the half-year period went into term deposit accounts.

 

“We're targeting longer-term deposits, because we can do more with them,” Mr Finkbeiner said. “We can use them for lending or for funding an investment portfolio.

 

“We're able to offer strong rates, because we have no bad loans or impaired assets, so there is no drag on the balance sheet. Our investment portfolio is returning about 6.5 percent and we have not raised our risk profile significantly to achieve that.

 

“We're investing in high grade corporate paper and some equities nothing exotic. We continue to be a very conservative bank.”

 

BCB came through the financial crisis unscathed and is not burdened with issues of soured investments and non-performing loans that are weighing on others. That was a powerful plus factor for BCB now, he added.

 

“Whenever there is uncertainty in the marketplace, people are going to look for safety,” Mr Finkbeiner said. “We have picked up business from around the world, including people who have banked in other jurisdictions and wanted to move it to us a safe place.

 

“The idea that the big banks are the safest everybody knows it didn't work out that way. Our clients do tend to look at the balance sheet and they know we are safe.”

 

About 60 percent of BCB's customers are Bermuda-based and 40 percent from elsewhere in the world. Apart from fixed-term deposits, the bank offers asset management, trust and corporate banking and investment funds services.

 

Last year, BCB made a $5.2 million strategic investment in London brokerage Westhouse Holdings. The bank hopes the partnership will open up new investment opportunities for its clientele. Also the bank hopes to attract more clientele from London.

 

BCB's clients range from people who put $10,000 in a deposit account to high net worth individuals, corporate clients including law firms, and investment funds.

 

The bank has a committed staff, Mr Finkbeiner said, adding there had been no turnover and that additional managers had been taken on in recent weeks. The bank now has 43 employees.

 

“We have made a number of hires and as the volume of business grows, we will be looking to add more,” he said.

 

BCB chairman said in a statement: “Overall we are pleased with the steady growth of the bank's deposit base and profitability since the completion of the sale of the bank to the new investor group in April 2010.

“Over the course of the last 12 months, we have made it a management priority to strengthen the bank from the ground upwards. We have improved our employee and management depth by retaining new professionals, and continue to invest in new state-of-the-art technologies and streamlined processes in all operational areas.

 

“Our longer-term shareholders will have noticed that the Bank has changed significantly over the last year changes that will serve and benefit our growing customer base. BCB seeks to broaden its market share in Bermuda, while we are also considering overseas opportunities. As a result of these efforts and investments we are confidently looking to the future from a position of strength.”

 

 

 

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank Wins 2011 Kinetic Process Innovation Award for its Outstanding Application of Banking Technology using EastNets solutions

 

(Hamilton, Bermuda, February 23, 2011) - Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited announces it has been named a winner of the 2011 Kinetic Process Innovation Award for excellence in the Banking Technology category.  Now in its 14th year, the awards program recognizes excellence in information technology and this year is sponsored by High Tech Views, an online publication that spotlights technology innovation.


"Presided over by a panel of respected industry experts, the awards submissions this year were exceptional and very difficult for our judges to make the final choices," said Drew Barrows, deputy editor of High Tech Views.  "Bermuda Commercial Bank's unprecedented application of banking technology illustrated best practices in achieving compliance and mitigating transactional risks." 


This year’s entries, in a variety of categories, exemplified best practices and creative use of technologies.  Bermuda Commercial Bank is utilizing EastNetsen.SafeWatch Filtering solution for OFAC, PEP and SWIFT message screening, and en.Reporting solution for FIN/XML message monitoring.


“We are proud to be recognized for our efforts in strengthening our compliance practices and implementing the right mix of best practices and technology to safeguard against transactional risk for our commercial, corporate, and high net worth banking customers,” says Horst Finkbeiner II, Bermuda Commercial Bank Director & Chief Operating Officer.


About Kinetic Process Innovation Awards:
The awards program was founded by Kinetic Information LLC in 1996 and is sponsored by various technology publications.  The 2011 awards, sponsored by High Tech Views, recognize innovation in the application of information technology. Awards focus on the business benefits user organizations derive from their technology systems. Winners are selected by a panel of experts consisting of independent professional consultants who are recognized authorities in their fields. The judging process is free of any vendor or other bias so the emphasis remains on the business benefits provided by each winning implementation.

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank Contact:
Horst Finkbeiner II, Director & Chief Operating Officer
Tel: (441) 295 5678

Click here to email Mr. Finkbeiner

 

About Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited:

Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited is one of Bermuda's four licensed banks, established in 1969 and regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. It is Bermuda's only bank focused purely on corporate and private wealth clients, offering a range of bespoke financial solutions. BCB's website is www.bcb.bm and its shares are publicly traded and listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange www.bsx.com (Ticker: BCB.BH). BCB's share price is available on the BSX and on Bloomberg and is published daily in the Royal Gazette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank signs Investment Management Agreement with IceCap Asset Management

 

(Hamilton, Bermuda, February 8th 2011) ‐ Bermuda Commercial Bank ("BCB"), which is focused solely on commercial, corporate and private wealth individuals, is pleased to announce that it has signed a global investment advisory agreement with IceCap Asset Management Limited ("IceCap"). Under the terms of the agreement, IceCap will provide discretionary investment management services for BCB's clients.


J. Michael Collier JP, Chairman & Managing Director of Bermuda Commercial Bank, said IceCap's product differentiates the bank from its competitors: "IceCap's approach to portfolio management is unique, cost‐effective and easy for our clients to understand. IceCap's view of the World is refreshing and we are excited to be partners as we grow our investment management business in Bermuda and elsewhere around the World. We were also attracted to IceCap because of their long‐term, deep knowledge of the Bermuda investment market."


Keith Dicker, CFA, President and Chief Investment Officer said "IceCap is extremely pleased to be working with BCB and we believe that our unique investment approach that includes gold, commodities and currencies as well as stocks and bonds will be attractive to BCB's clients."

 

Bermuda Commercial Bank Contact:
Horst Finkbeiner II, Director & Chief Operating Officer
Tel: (441) 295 5678
Click here to email Mr. Finkbeiner


IceCap Asset Management Contact:
Keith Dicker, President
Tel: 1 902‐492‐8495

Click here to email Mr. Dicker

About Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited:

Bermuda Commercial Bank Limited is one of Bermuda's four licensed banks, established in 1969 and regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. It is Bermuda's only bank focused purely on corporate and private wealth clients, offering a range of bespoke financial solutions. BCB's website is www.bcb.bm and its shares are publicly traded and listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange www.bsx.com (Ticker: BCB.BH). BCB's share price is available on the BSX and on Bloomberg and is published daily in the Royal Gazette.


About IceCap Asset Management Limited:

IceCap Asset Management Limited is an independent investment counselor and portfolio management firm dedicated to providing discretionary management services. Founded in 2010, its mission is to help people better understand the uncertainties of global investment markets and make them feel more comfortable with their investment portfolios. IceCap offers an unbiased view, a unique investment approach and a more efficient business model than traditional investment managers. Its Monthly Global Outlook is a plain language market commentary that is enjoyed by people from 36 countries around the World.

 

 

 

 

 

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