recent decision of Parliament's Private Bills Committee, which did not support the Bank of Bermuda's waiver petition for an exemption from the 60/40 rule.

And there was a hint this week that the bank not only has other options in seeking the exemption, but may have the backing of Government in doing so.

The decision came after the bank's private bill had already internally won acceptance from Dr. Gibbons and the Ministry of Finance. The rule is that local companies must be at least 60 percent Bermudian-controlled and owned.

The Island's most successful indigenous bank, however, can never grow to its full potential without an enlarged capital base.

The bank can't get that capital in Bermuda, and if the institution really wants to compete in world markets, it must go the way of the world and have unfettered access to required capital.

Their plan is for a listing on the Nasdaq Exchange, which would also be a boon for local Bank of Bermuda shareholders. The broader market should substantially improve the value of bank shares.

The Parliamentary committee's decision against the bank is not the last word.

But it came after the relevant Government authorities advising the committee rejected the bank plan, two to one.

The Ministry was obviously the voice of approval.

Dr. Gibbons noted, "The Bank of Bermuda, because it is really an international institution, is really different from a retail operation or a deposit company that operates solely in Bermuda. It has very different needs.

"The whole evolution of the 60/40 exemption has been looked at on a sector by sector basis. We are now looking at the financial services sector, but very specifically, banks like the Bank of Bermuda, that is really dealing with business more than 50 percent outside of Bermuda.

"They are having to compete in an international marketplace where the rules are very different. Where certain protectionist measures may have made a lot of sense when it was a small local bank, they perhaps, are now not as applicable, and also probably are constricting.'' He said the issue would inevitably be revisited, not only because of the needs of the bank, but also because of the direction of evolution of financial markets and international regulation.