Flying the flag for Bermuda and being an ambassador for the Island is something that comes naturally to Sean Moran.

That potent combination, together with his extensive overseas experience in the financial sector, is now being put to use to attract new business to Bermuda.

Mr Moran is one of the business development managers with the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA).

A Bermudian, he spent 17 years working overseas in Hong Kong and New York, but always kept a foot in Bermuda, either by working for Bermuda-based companies or looking after clients utilising Bermuda-linked services.

Now he has a role at the forefront of efforts to rejuvenate the Island’s economy through developing and promoting the business opportunities Bermuda offers to international companies.

The BDA, which is based in Maxwell Roberts House, on Church Street, is primarily funded by Government and works to stimulate growth in the international business sector.

Last August Ross Webber was appointed chief executive officer of the BDA. Mr Moran took up his role with the agency at the same time.

He already knew Clare Spearing, the BDA’s head of operations, and he had met Mr Webber during his many years working overseas.

After almost two decades abroad Mr Moran’s move back to Bermuda was one that he welcomed, as much as he welcomed the opportunity to be part of the BDA as it works to boost the Island’s standing in the eyes of international business.

“I always considered myself an ambassador for Bermuda, doing anything that I could to fly the flag,” he said.

In the past year the BDA’s proactive approach to attracting and retaining business for the Island has started to produce results, of that Mr Moran is in no doubt. This week he shared one ongoing success story.

It started last July when the BDA was featured in a webcast as part of a session by the New York-based Regulatory Compliance Association, which attracted more than 4,000 registrants including fund executives, lawyers and regulators.

Bermuda was praised by the panel moderator Jack Rigney, a partner at New York law firm Seward & Kissel, for the way it had “dramatically delivered on promises” made a year earlier. Those promises were made after absorbing and acting on feedback from New York decision-makers in 2013.

Government, the Bermuda Monetary Authority, the BDA and other key players collaborated to amend fund legislation, making the Island more competitive and appealing and streamlining the process for setting up funds. New York law firms are among the first people to offer advice to trust and fund managers looking for somewhere to set up a new business.

As an example of a success attributable to the July webcast, Mr Moran and the BDA team are in the process of helping a hedge fund business that is considering relocating from another jurisdiction. The fund group had been searching for a new location when a broker in New York, who had listened to the BDA webcast, suggested Bermuda as an option. That got the ball rolling, and the BDA has since played a key role in smoothing the path for the fund group, facilitating key introductions to secure a new client for the Island.

“Our main goal is to leverage this outreach to encourage more people to set up in Bermuda, so they can hire people and we can see an uptick in Bermuda’s economy,” said Mr Moran.

Bermuda is home for Mr Moran. He went to Saltus before furthering his education in Canada, gaining a BA (hons) degree from Queen’s University.

He returned to Bermuda in 1995 to work at Bank of Bermuda in its global custody area. After 2½ years he took up a role in the bank’s Hong Kong office as a network manager involved in reviewing all the sub-custodian banks that Bank of Bermuda used to settle security trades in the region, which meant travelling across an area stretching from Israel to New Zealand.

“It was a great learning and growth experience. Moving halfway around the world to a place where English isn’t the first language.

“It allowed me a lot of travel. Over three years I was travelling almost monthly to new and interesting places and experienced a lot of the local culture. I was 25 when I arrived in Hong Kong and 28 when I left. It was a really good age to be out there.”

After Hong Kong he relocated to New York where, still working for Bank of Bermuda, he moved into hedge fund administration, learning the ropes with assistance from another Bermudian, Drew Douglas. Transitioning to the hedge fund space, he met with hedge fund managers and other players in that industry.

“That was where I cut my teeth in the asset management space,” he said.

It was a business development role, selling the bank’s fund service role in New York and other places in the US.

“It got me connected to that industry in a big way and I got to know all the players and really learn a little bit about how to develop business and how to attract clients and how to leverage a network of other service providers to try to bring that business in.

“And all of those skills have come into play here in this role. It’s a very similar discipline with a lot of similar considerations although I’m selling a different product.

“That New York experience was one that really helped me professionally with figuring out how the process worked. It was a great experience personally, living in the big city, working for a Bermudian company and always having the ability to come home very easily and making great contacts and friends.”

He spent 14 years working in New York. From 2007 he was business development manager in the US for Bermuda-based fund administrator Fulcrum and he stayed with the company as it transitioned to become Butterfield Fulcrum Group (it is now the Mitshubishi UFJ Fund Services).

In 2011, he joined Citi Hedge Fund Services to be the relationship manager for its clients serviced by the Bermuda office. However, almost immediately Citi Group began downsizing and moving operations to new locations, including a large percentage of its Bermuda set-up.

Mr Moran was primarily based in New York and maintained good relationships with clients, helping to resolve issues. However, he was feeling an ever stronger desire to return to Bermuda.

“I came back to Bermuda frequently and worked from the office here when I could,” he said.

He heard about the setting up of the fledgling BDA and stayed in contact with Ms Spearing and Mr Webber, which eventually led to his appointment as part of the business development team.

His overseas experience in the financial world and his contacts made him an ideal choice to be part of the new set-up.

And relocating to Bermuda had been on his mind.

“The big city was fun and exciting, but I was feeling the pull of Bermuda — its natural beauty, the proximity to family and lifelong friends. I knew I was going to move back to Bermuda and I felt this opportunity was a good fit for me,” he said.

The BDA has four “pillars” — the risk industry, trust and private client, asset management and international commerce. Mr Moran’s two spheres are asset management and trust and private clients.

“My role is to work with the focus groups the BDA has established in these sectors,” he said.

“The focus groups and I meet for the discussions and what are the most important things we need to do to bring more business here. My goal is to drive that action plan forward.”

That involves working with Government departments, particularly the Ministry of Economic Development, to put legislation to position.

The focus group are made up of practitioners in the relevant industries who volunteer their time to share ideas.

“We draw on their experience to work out how do we get this done, what laws need to be changed, and prepare a draft for the Attorney General’s consideration.”

Mr Moran has high praise for the work of the focus groups and the important contributions they make.

A similar, but more fragmented system was in place previously under the BDA’s predecessor Business Bermuda (formerly Bermuda International Business Association). The BDA has pulled the disparate groups together under one umbrella.

“We are trying to invite all the companies that are players here to be involved,” said Mr Moran.

“A lot more people are coming to us saying they would like to be part of the focus groups.”

When travelling to overseas forums and conferences where Bermuda businesses are in attendance, the BDA representatives set up meetings and provide other delegates updates on what is going on in Bermuda — and why they should consider the Island as a jurisdiction where they can set up or place new business.

That was what happened last month at a legal conference in London.

“Some of the lawyers in the focus groups were going, so the BDA arranged to attend and bring overseas lawyers up to speed on what has been happening in Bermuda,” said Mr Moran.

With Cayman Islands perceived by many as the default choice of jurisdiction for hedge funds, the BDA’s job is to keep Bermuda in the frame and spread the news about the Island’s strengths compared to its competitors. On the asset management side, some business leaders have been asking “Where has Bermuda been?”

Again, it is the BDA’s goal to put the Island back front and centre in decision-makers’ minds as a place to come and do business.

Mr Moran said some of the things people find important are the “speed to market” and the cost of setting up, and also new legislation.

He said the good news is Bermuda is gaining ground on its competitor jurisdictions and can trumpet increased scrutiny regarding beneficial owners, investors and tax issues.

Glancing out of a sixth-floor office window as sunshine bathed Hamilton, Mr Moran said he was more than happy to be back in Bermuda and playing a part in the BDA’s mission.

“A lot of people have said this job was tailor-made for me as a Bermudian who has been overseas and built up the contacts and experience. I’m happy to put the business development skills I’ve learned to use here and help the BDA revitalise the industry.”