Peter Horton is the new chief executive officer of Bermuda Commercial Bank (BCB).

Mr Horton’s banking career has taken him around the world, with a job that included a stint in Botswana and then, from a base in Kenya, moved him throughout Africa tackling distressed debt.

He has run a bank in the Caribbean, then returned to the Indian Ocean where he took up his first CEO position at Bank of Maldives.

Now, he’s in Bermuda, in his eighth week at the helm of BCB.

In the BCB boardroom yesterday, he talked about his time in Africa where his job was managing distressed portfolios and problem lending. It was a time of economic challenges throughout the region, and he explained he ran corporate turnaround teams across Africa.

Zimbabwe was at its lowest ebb, and he visited the country several times working on severe debt issues, and recalled particularly working with farmers to save their farms. “We succeeded in all but one case,” he said, explaining that farmer wanted to run off the farm in any event. “It was a really great job, and it’s really rewarding — where you can rescue a company and preserve jobs,” he said.

He pointed out that banks are “an important part of the economy and the community”, and so as a career: “ ... banking is a really great job, and always rewarding”.

The Maldives, Mr Horton explained, is made up of a string of about 1,000 islands. “It is a really unique country — most of the islands that make it up are very, very small.” Famous for its magnificent resorts, typically there is just one per island, and there are about 100 in total. “There are few places that are better for tourism,” he said. Along with the 100 islands that are dedicated to tourism, just 200 more are otherwise inhabited.

“It is a beautiful country, but there were teething pains as the country gets used to democracy,” explaining the new political system was introduced in 2008. Tourism and fishing are the nation’s only industries, and Mr Horton saw a need to expand the economic base.

Offshore finance is another option for the Maldives, and he believes that Islamic finance would be a good option for the country to pursue.

Air links to that part of the world, thanks to its robust tourist industry, are excellent, with flights to a plethora of Middle Eastern centres as well as London.

With Islamic banking there are three options: to be a subsidiary of an Islamic bank, to provide a ‘window’, selling Islamic banking products or become a pure Islamic bank.

He said in the case of Bank of Maldives, they provided a window.

Moving from the challenges of a larger bank in a place with challenging logistics to the much smaller BCB in Bermuda, he explained is in part in pursuit of his own personal development. “I’m ready for my next career challenge,” he said.

BCB, which was founded in 1969, today is does not provide retail services, but focuses instead on commercial, corporate and high net-worth clients, and is wholly owned by Somers Ltd, a Bermuda company, which also has significant stakes in J O Hambro Investment Management, Private and Commercial Financial Group PLC, and Westhouse Holdings PLC.

While Mr Horton said that for now he’s concentrating on BCB, he is aware of the larger picture incorporating BCB’s Somers Ltd siblings. “There’s a lot of opportunities, and (further opportunities) in terms of our shareholder ambition,” he said.

“I am excited by this appointment — this bank and our shareholder group has the potential to be something very special.”

In the meantime, Mr Horton’s job is to provide a strategic plan for the direction of the bank. Now, he is concentrating on understanding the business itself and the market. “In the first quarter, I will be firing up the strategic planning and thinking about the bank’s future.”

Despite the economic challenges of the last few years, it is a future about which he feels optimistic. Compared to other global financial centres, “Bermuda’s got far more sophistication,” he said.

“You can look anywhere in the world right now,” and noted the financial challenges. “I don’t think the challenges here are any different than they are in many other places in the world,” he said.

“But in small island economies, the challenges are more acute,” pointing out the broader economic bases of larger nations do not exist in small islands where the economy may be limited to one or two industries, making it more difficult for those countries to get back on their feet.

But Bermuda has the advantages of its geographical location, and its “first class” infrastructure. In addition, he pointed to the working relationships that exists between the commerce and Government.

And banking is emerging from the economic downturn into a different world. “There are other markets where you can raise finance today — it’s a forever changing industry,” he said. Basel III, put in place to provide international standards for banking regulators to control how much capital banks need to put aside, has had an impact, he said.

But, he said: “BCB can be anything we want to be — we’re small enough to adapt,” he said.

In the meantime: “The primary step is to focus on the business I have been employed to run.”

Mr Horton, who is here on a five-year contract said: “It is a contract I am really happy to make because of the potential of BCB — and it might be a longer commitment.

“It’s absolutely beautiful in Bermuda,” he said. “I’m really happy to be here.”