Bermuda must do all it can to fight the “pervasive sentiment” here and abroad that it is “closed for business”, a top insurance executive insisted yesterday.Peter Durhager, executive vice president of Renaissance Re, told Hamilton Rotarians that a “complete paradigm shift” across the community was needed to persuade global businesses to continue to domicile here.“From speaking with a broad range of people, inside Bermuda and externally, it is clear that there is a pervasive sentiment in Bermuda and, sadly, beyond, that Bermuda is ‘closed for business’,” he said.“We have got to turn this around. We have to honestly reflect whether the recent wave of ‘redomestications’, that’s where businesses have moved their chosen place of domicile out of Bermuda, is the veritable ‘canary in the coal mine’.“All major players in the international business/insurance and reinsurance sector and some in the legal and accounting arena have presence in other jurisdictions.“They are not local businesses conducting their trade internationally; they are global businesses with a choice about where they operate. And, recently, we’ve seen them change their minds.”He said companies made long-term decisions about where to locate based not just on rigorous analysis but also on how their staff were treated.“Are they made to feel welcome or not? Are their contributions valued and appreciated? Respected? Do they feel safe? I’m here to tell you that the answers to these questions influence corporate decision-making more than most people appreciate.”Mr Durhager, speaking as co-chairman of Bermuda First, the think tank set up by Government in 2008 to track threats posed to the Island’s economy, said a cultural transformation was needed to shift local attitudes towards non-Bermudian companies and people.“We have allowed a sentiment to exist that international companies and expatriates are not welcome in Bermuda,” he said.“Our attitudes in this area must change; our invited guests and their businesses, their families, their spending, is the lifeblood of our financial wellbeing.“We should embrace people willing to move their lives here and bring their businesses and foreign currency here. We should embrace them fully and encourage them to actively participate in making Bermuda a better place which benefits Bermuda and Bermudians.”He said people here needed to appreciate the Island’s “fragile and connected ecosystem” and understand how losing international business could negatively affect local businesses and families.The insurance boss suggested several changes to help Bermuda continue to attract global business, survive the recession and return to economic stability, from improving the Customs process at the airport to scrapping “protectionist policies” like the 60/40 rule on non-exempt company ownership.“In this global economy and technologically enabled world of 2011, on return to Bermuda, travelling executives and residents must fish out tiny little yellow pieces of paper to prove they paid duty on a three-year-old laptop or face unpleasant consequences,” he said.“There are readily available, powerful resources that would provide far better solutions and allow our Customs resources to focus on the threats to our safety and security.”Mr Durhager said the good news was that though Bermuda’s star “is not quite as shiny, we are still the envy of other jurisdictions and considered one of the best places in the world to domicile”.He added: “We must guard our reputation jealously and never rest on our laurels as other jurisdictions are ever-improving, becoming increasingly attractive and close on our heels.”l Useful websites: www.rotary.bm and www.renre.com