company a better place in which to work.

Bank president and chief executive officer Henry Smith said the programmes would cover hiring practices, performance assessment, career development and equal opportunity.

"This effort, very simply, is all about attracting and retaining the best staff available,'' Mr. Smith said. "As you know, we are a global operation, with about 2,400 staff in offices in 14 jurisdictions. The single most critical and challenging task every office faces is getting the right people -- and keeping them.'' The bank is attempting to beef up internal communications with staff worldwide by establishing a number of teams to oversee the process. The teams will also review a new performance appraisal process being put in place.

A new performance appraisal programme is being piloted in Bermuda and at the company's information technology department in Scotland. At one division in Bermuda employees will get a chance to review the performance of their managers under the pilot programme. The bank has also compared salaries with those being paid by other banks worldwide and is attempting to tie what staff receive with performance. A global profit sharing scheme is now in the second year.

Mr. Smith said the programmes were being implemented to address concerns expressed by employees in a company-wide survey conducted in September.

Employees main concerns were about internal communications, the way they were treated, promotion, and salaries.

The survey was answered by about 70 percent of the employees. The survey will be conducted every two years.

Henry Smith