Butterfield Bank's new chief financial officer Bradford Kopp says the bank is working hard to steady its investment portfolio after the losses it suffered during the financial crisis.

In his first interview since taking on his new role two weeks ago, Mr. Kopp said this year had brought signs of improvement in the portfolio - and particularly the US mortgage-backed securities - that plunged in value during last year's tumult.

American Mr. Kopp, who has relocated to the Island with his family, succeeds Richard Ferrett, who retired from Butterfield after a 40-year career in financial services.

His responsibilities include the financial affairs of Butterfield, the Treasury function in Bermuda and all matters relating to financial risk management and investor relations.

Mr. Kopp has joined the Bermuda bank after a lengthy career featuring several high-level positions in US financial services companies. Most recently he was at Citizens Financial Group/RBS America where he was head of corporate strategy and development, with responsibility for the company's mergers and acquisitions team and other strategic planning initiatives in the US.

"Senior management knows the securities name by name — there's a lot of effort going into it," Mr. Kopp said of the bank's investment portfolio. "They have also hired some very good firms to take a look at it and we know the extent of the problem."

He added that US mortgage-backed securities were not going to bounce back quickly, but there were signs of improvement in the American housing market that should lead to stabilisation of the bank's portfolio.

Last year, Butterfield incurred losses and write-downs of $151.8 million from declines in the carrying value of some securities, most notably US mortgage-backed securities in the held-to-maturity portfolio.

The recovery on the financial markets this year and signs of stabilisation in the US housing markets have helped to boost the value of some of Butterfield's remaining mortgage-linked assets. Through the first nine months of this year the difference in the book and market values of investments in Butterfield's held-to-maturity portfolio narrowed by $161 million.

Butterfield is not alone. Globally, banks have collectively lost trillions through the housing slump and credit crisis, many to the extent that they have needed direct injections of capital from governments to survive.

"Banking around the world is in a troubled place and every bank has had its problems," Mr. Kopp said.

"Now it's about banks taking fresh approaches and there will be a lot more emphasis on compliance and managing the risks."

Butterfield was very much focused on being a community bank, Mr. Kopp added, and he had been pleased to land the CFO role at a time when CEO Alan Thompson was bringing in new managerial talent, including former Bank of Bermuda COO Michael Collins as executive vice-president, corporate development.

Mr. Kopp saw his main tasks as ensuring the soundness of the bank, and paying close attention to its balance sheet and earnings.

The $200 million, Government-guaranteed preference share issuance which was oversubscribed in June, had contributed greatly to the bank's soundness and had been "a major vote of confidence in the bank from Government", Mr. Kopp said.

Earnings at most banks were under pressure because of low interest rates that were likely to stay low for some time to come, he said. But Butterfield's unusually high proportion of non-interest fee income gave it an advantage over many banks in this respect, he added. Butterfield's non-interest income in the third quarter of this year was $32.8 million and its interest income was $46.9 million.

Mr. Kopp said he was pleased to be working at a "mid-sized community bank where you know people by their first names". During his distinguished career, he has worked for some much larger organisations.

In 1993 he joined Citizens as chief financial officer. In 2008, he served as chief executive officer of ABN AMRO North America (which became part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group of companies in 2007) and coordinated its integration with RBS. Prior to joining Citizens, he served as a managing director in the Financial Institutions Group of Lehman Brothers. He holds undergraduate and MBA degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

His new job will mean living outside the US for the first time. He said the finger-pointing at offshore financial centres by US politicians and world leaders had not deterred him from coming to live and work on the Island.

"Bermuda has the best reputation of the offshore financial centres and its regulatory environment has been much stronger," he said. "You've got to hand it to the Bermuda Monetary Authority and the Ministry of Finance for keeping that pristine reputation."

Mr. Thompson said he was delighted to have Mr. Kopp on his team.

"I know his many years of experience in both finance and client-facing business functions in the banking sector will serve him well in his new role," Mr. Thompson said. "With a proven track record in financial management and demonstrated leadership skills, Brad will be a great asset to our team."