The head of the Bermuda Stock Exchange is on a mission to get every publicly traded insurance company on the Island to do a secondary listing on the Island's index.

Chief Executive Officer of the BSX, Greg Wojciechowski said that it was important for the companies to solidify their position as Bermuda companies.

A wide variety of businesses have been criticised in the US, including some insurance companies, for being unpatriotic and moving their firms offshore to save on their tax bills.

Some Senators in Congress have been trying to have companies that incorporate in so-called tax havens penalised for doing so. Insurance companies argue that they do not come to Bermuda to save tax, but because of the regulatory environment - but are at pains to show they are truly Bermuda companies.

Last week the BSX had an official ceremony to mark the joining of Montpelier Re, one of the new post September 11 start-ups which IPOed on the New York Stock Exchange last year.

"There are certainly companies that are on our radar screen and we hope in the short term that we will be able to contact them," said Mr. Wojciechowski. "We have just about everybody - XL ACE, Partner Re, IPC Re Holdings, Max Re, Montpelier Re and Scottish Annuity and Life. And the other remaining ones we are working on."

The insurance companies that have not succumbed to the charms of the BSX secondary listing are Renaissance Re, Everest Re, Endurance Specialty and Axis, and TheRoyal Gazette understands that the stock exchange will be going after other post- September 11 start ups that may list in the future.

"Remember that the criteria for the insurance index is that it is a publicly traded company in say the US, but has its mind and money in Bermuda," said Mr. Wojciechowski. "And it just makes sense that once they are actually listed and do have their mind and money in Bermuda that they secondary list on the national stock exchange in Bermuda.

"It makes sense because it solidifies their position as a Bermuda insurance company, which is very important these days when people are wondering where companies are jurisdictionally located."

He said that not only was this a positive, but also it could provide the secondary listed company with an alternative trading venue if their market or trading venue become unavailable.

But Mr. Wojciechowski said that he did not think the secondary listings would improve the liquidity of the BSX, but said it had benefits for the companies should events change in the country where they have a primary listing.

"On the initial stages I can't imagine we would see a lot of trading on the BSX, most of its trading occurs in the primary trading venue where the liquidity pools are found," said Mr. Wojciechowski, "But as I said earlier, if there was a situation whereby the primary liquidity pool wasn't available, then Bermuda Stock Exchange, based upon its infrastructure and its ability to trade within the same time zone, could certainly step up to provide an alternative trading venue."

When asked about whether this would allow Sunday trading for the stocks, he said this was unlikely as markets were closed in the US and there seemed little need for it, but added that back in the days when the BSX talked about 24 hour trading, they created an infrastructure that would allow this to happen, should the demand arise.

Eventually Mr. Wojciechowski said he would like to see all the post-September 11 companies that were set up after the capital crunch caused by the terrorist attacks, to be also listed on the BSX. These companies are Axis Specialty, Platinum Underwriters, Montpelier Re, Endurance Specialty.