jurisdictions, Finance Minister Eugene Cox said yesterday.

And he insisted that Bermuda did not deserve a grade II listing from the Swiss-based Financial Stability Forum -- behind key offshore competitors like Dublin, Hong Kong and Jersey.

Mr. Cox said: "Accordingly, the Government has made representations to the Financial Stability Forum in Switzerland and has sought an explanation for what we believe to be the premature publication of the groupings of offshore financial sectors.'' The Financial Stability Forum was set up last year by the G7 group of top industrial nations, which includes the UK, to draw up a list of countries seen to be a threat to the security of the financial world.

Bermuda was listed in the second of three groups -- those which fall short in business practices and regulatory systems.

Joining Bermuda in the group are Gibraltar, Barbados, Bahrain, Malta and Monaco.

The Financial Stability Forum report said the second group should be looked at by the International Monetary Fund as "highest priority'' and that the countries should undertake an "assessment process''.

The third and lowest group, however, includes other key competitors for the Island, including the Caymans, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Isles.

Mr. Cox said: "The publication of the listing... was based on a survey process that has been challenged by the Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors due, in part, to the largely subjective nature of the survey process.

"The process to date had been preliminary as the working group conducting the survey had written to advise that they wished to have an initial round of discussions with Bermuda, followed by another more extensive round of discussions prior to the completion of the final report.

"This has not happened and an objective evaluation has not occurred. In fact, there was not opportunity for Bermuda to review its report and subsequently to discuss, clarify or challenge any of the initial conclusions.

"In these circumstances, the Government of Bermuda finds it most regrettable that the Financial Stability Forum has chosen to proceed with the hasty publication of its subjective groupings of Offshore Financial Centres.'' Mr. Cox added: "Notwithstanding this disturbing event, the Government remains committed to progress in supervision and regulation of the financial services sector and will continue to cooperate with well-founded international initiatives in this sphere.'' Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons -- while agreeing the Bermuda listing was unfair -- said the Minister should have spoken out sooner.

He added: "It's essentially been more than a week since this report was published.

"It would have been useful to have heard from him much earlier to get out Bermuda's position that this report wasn't done with the depth that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the UK White Paper on the Overseas Territories were done. A lot of people are complaining it wasn't done with the care it should have had before they went public.''