In nearly 33 years with the Argus Group, David Pugh has experienced the highs and lows of bearing senior-management responsibilities for a publicly traded company.

And as he looked back on his career after stepping down last month as chief financial officer, it was the massive team effort to dig Argus out of a deep hole in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis that stood out as a memory.

Last month Argus announced that Mr Pugh, would make way for his successor as CFO, Peter Dunkerley, in anticipation of his retirement next year. He will be staying with the firm in a consultancy role, as special adviser to the chief executive officer, Alison Hill.

His experience before coming to the Island had been auditing work for PwC in Eastbourne, in southern England, and then for Thomson McLintock in London. It was as a 22-year-old at PwC that he first heard about Bermuda, from Martin Middleton, who had previously worked on the Island.

That remained in his imagination until a decade later, he got the chance to work on the Island, on a six-month deal as a temporary accountant.

He arrived on January 22, 1983 — his birthday — and his first placement took him to Argus, where he worked under the then treasurer, David Carruthers. The deal proved to be anything but temporary, as he is still working in the company’s Wesley Street offices more than three decades later.

Most of period since 1983 has been marked by strong growth for Argus. Mr Pugh recalls how his first boss, John Sainsbury, who took over as chief executive officer in 1982, built the foundations of the modern Argus Group.

“John Sainsbury built the capital base of the Argus Group around sound operating results and he also brought along the investment portfolio, which was a special interest of his,” Mr Pugh said.

“In 1982, when he took over as CEO, Argus’ equity was $8 million and our earnings were $1.7 million. When he retired in 1998, our equity was $75.1 million and our earnings were $11.5 million.”

The international business growth spurt that started in the mid-1980s with the founding of Ace and XL helped Argus to grow, as the Island’s population and wealth swelled.

Mr Pugh was promoted to CFO in 2004 when the company was still growing vigorously. But four years later, financial-services companies the world over were rocked by the global financial crisis — and Argus was particularly badly affected.

“It was a perfect storm,” Mr Pugh said. “At its high point in 2008 before the crisis, our capital stood at $260 million. That was about 11 times more capital than the regulator [the Bermuda Monetary Authority] required us to have.

“The following year, our capital had fallen to $115 million and by 2011, it was down to $82 million.

“Part of the problem was that we had such a high concentration of investments in Bermuda companies. We had a lot of money invested in Butterfield Bank, KeyTech and Ascendant Group.”

At the time, Butterfield itself was heavily exposed to mortgage-backed securities, which plunged in value amid a dramatic property market slump in the US. The bank lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result and its share price fell by some 95 per cent from peak to trough.

“We had 7.2 million Butterfield shares times $21 — and that turned into 7.2 million shares times $1,” Mr Pugh said.

Argus suffered from a soured $20 million loan it made to help finance the Tucker’s Point resort and took a further hit from an investment that was indirectly exposed to the Madoff scandal.

Mr Pugh conceded that a high level of surplus capital had encouraged Argus to grow its higher-risk investments — which had been generating strong returns until 2008.

He recalled long and stressful meetings with colleagues in the windowless office he fondly refers to as ‘The Bunker’, thrashing out strategies to tackle the company’s crisis. To make things even more challenging, Argus was dealing with increased scrutiny from regulators and strong criticism from shareholders.

“We spent many long hours working on various aspects of our balance sheet, which had gone from having 11 times overcapitalised to not so good,” he said. “The teamwork was incredible and we pulled our way out of it.

“The strength of core businesses, which continued to perform right the way through and generated excellent cash flows, helped us through.

“What we encountered was nothing that had not been encountered by other financial institutions in Bermuda and around the world.”

Mr Pugh is proud of the way Argus has hauled its way back to stability and profitability.

Among other people who had made an impression on him were his current CEO Alison Hill and her predecessor, Gerald Simons.

“Gerald was very big on employee education,” Mr Pugh said. “He actively encouraged employees to become more qualified and raised the calibre of the company by doing that.

“Alison has a different approach. She brings great energy and drive, and has a strong focus on strategic growth and governance.”

One of the biggest issues facing local insurers is the rising cost of healthcare. Mr Pugh said Argus had long advocated wellness as the best way to counter the issue.

“We have made some progress in bringing down costs, particularly with overseas healthcare,” he said. “But Bermuda still has a preponderance of diabetes and a lot of that can be solved through education.

“It’s very important for us to get the message across that if people make decisions that enable them to be stronger and healthier, then their health insurance premiums will come down.”

Mr Pugh is bullish about the Island’s future and calls it a “Rolls-Royce financial centre” with excellent legal and accounting infrastructure. Things have come a long way since the mid-80s when he recalled the phones would often go dead if it rained hard.

As he gradually scales down his work at Argus, he looks forward to reacquainting himself with golf and spending more time visiting his three children, who were all born in Bermuda and who now live in Canada.