Bermuda banker Barry Shailer will use a money laundering conference in Zurich, Switzerland next week to challenge misconceptions about offshore jurisdictions.

Mr. Shailer, chief compliance officer at the Bank of Bermuda, has been invited to speak about the offshore experience in the global battle against money laundering at the conference, which brings together crime fighters and leading financial institutions.

Mr. Shailer's presentation at the conference is "An Offshore Perspective on the War against Global Money Laundering". He will discuss how Bermuda has remained such a successful jurisdiction even under increased international scrutiny and how it does all it can to combat money laundering while showing due respect for legitimate business privacy.

He said: "Bermuda is a quality offshore jurisdiction where anti-money laundering legislation and strict 'know your customer' guidelines are already in place. Bank of Bermuda's strength as a global institution, and the perspective that we bring to the table in Zurich, is that we have embraced the fight against money laundering. We see it as an opportunity for financial institutions to improve business practices, solidify their reputation and give clients the security that they are a safe and professional partner with which to do business.

"This conference is a wonderful opportunity for us to engage in an international dialogue for what is a very global problem. It will give me the opportunity to challenge some of the erroneous preconceptions that exist about the offshore world and put into context the great effort put into dealing with money laundering by many offshore jurisdictions.''

Mr. Shailer is responsible for compliance throughout the Bank of Bermuda's international network and for the 70 officers engaged in it. He sees the vulnerability to money laundering in offshore banking generally as being largely in the corporate sector. With individual customers there are now very strict controls on movement of cash in and out of banks, but with corporate clients it is not sufficient to have done the initial due diligence. A bank really has to monitor the business to make sure it is doing what it said it was doing.

He feels Bermuda has avoided major scandals that plague other offshore centres, largely because of decisions taken over 40 years ago as to the types of business it wanted to attract.

"There are no bearer shares, no numbered accounts and no statutory secrecy. Bermuda has always gone for business that has some real purpose, not just tax schemes, and so has developed a very good market," he said.

He views all the recent reviews by the OECD and others have reinforced the quality of business in places like Bermuda: "But they have definitely increased compliance costs. But you have to do it if you want to operate in the international market.''

The conference, 'Global Money Laundering : Developing Effective Prevention Strategies for Financial Services,' is designed to be a truly interactive event to examine the global strategic concerns of money laundering faced by financial institutions today. Accepting that money laundering is one of those few truly global issues, the conference will present practical ways for international organisations to implement effective anti-money laundering schemes.

The conference is on June 25 and June 26 and will bring together leading financial institutions and organisations to share their expertise and find practical ways of combating the scourge. Other speakers include representatives from the FBI, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Private Bank and the OECD Working Group on Bribery and Corruption.