An irate Butterfield Bank shareholder last night said he has seen his $300,000 investment in the local bank nearly wiped out in the last two years.

The man, who did not wish to be named, spoke after Butterfield announced yesterday its Bermuda segment alone posted a net loss of $208.4 million.

The company said it has obtained $550 million in new capital from several institutional investors and has replaced chief executive officer Alan Thompson.

"I think it is the shareholders who have really been screwed here," the man said. "The shareholders are spread right throughout Bermuda, it is locals who invested in this company.

"I have lost a lot of money and my son inherited shares in the company from his grandfather, that equity is now gone.

"There are going to be a lot of people very upset with the announcement."

He spoke after learning Butterfield suspended its dividend payments on common shares until the bank returns to a position of profitability.

"There seems to have been quite serious mismanagement with this bank," he claimed. "What has happened is they were looking for higher and higher yields. First they invested in Iceland, looking for a high yield, and then they went looking elsewhere for higher yields when that did not work out.

"I know they will say that foreign banks are not doing well now, but people invest in local banks because it is supposed to be safer."

And he said shareholders have not been regularly informed over the last two years about the bank's financial position.

"What has happened this year is precisely what happened last year," he said. "The quarterlies looked good and then they sat down to be audited and were asked to account for this and that. The shareholders were kept completely in the dark.

"Last year the Government bailed them out. Two weeks ago the bank was probably near bankruptcy. This year someone has managed to find these investors, which is good for Bermuda. If a local bank had collapsed it would have been a perfect storm with our current economic situation."

Are you an investor with Butterfield? What do you think about yesterday's announcment? Email roklynch@royalgazette.bm