BERMUDA Monetary Authority (BMA) yesterday revealed it had been in talks with some island insurance companies in the light of Eliot Spitzer's industry-wide investigation.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Dr. Grant Gibbons lamented the fact that Bermuda's international business sector was under fire from the US again.

Dr. Gibbons said the comments made by New York Attorney General Spitzer about Bermuda amounted to an unproven insinuation that there was something "unsavoury" about the off-shore insurance business.

The statement from financial regulatory body, the BMA, said: "Since the announcement of Mr. Spitzer's investigations into aspects of the insurance industry, the Bermuda Monetary Authority has been monitoring carefully the various developments in the United States.

"The BMA has also held discussions with affected Bermuda companies to establish the steps they are taking internally to review their actions and involvement.

"It would be premature to comment further pending follow-up discussion with these institutions in due course. The resultant findings from these meetings are anticipated to serve as a solid platform from which the BMA will make any next, appropriate moves as regulators."

The statement added: "Bermuda is a founding member of the key international standard setting body for insurance, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), and a member of two key working parties on regulatory standards for reinsurance companies and remains very closely involved in the ongoing work of the international regulatory community on the setting and development of standards for the industry.

"Bermuda's Supervisor of Insurance regularly attends National Association of Insurance Commissioners' meetings which have been a useful forum for interaction and discussion on mutual issues relating to reinsurance and reinsurance supervision."

Dr. Gibbons said it was unfortunate that Mr. Spitzer had singled out Bermuda in testimony presented to US lawmakers this week.

"My sense is that what Mr. Spitzer was saying is that there are limits to what he can do because some of this business is going on off-shore," Dr. Gibbons said.

"He was perhaps flagging to the Senate subcommittee that he had concerns about the off-shore aspect of the insurance business.

"Clearly this does not help Bermuda. I think it follows the general tone of some of what we heard in the run-up to the US elections, particularly from the Democrats, and I think it adds a little bit to the uncertainty of business in Bermuda.

"It's still too early to say what effect all this will have.

"Once again Bermuda is being mentioned in an unfavourable light and there are suggestions that there is something unsavoury about the off-shore insurance business.

"That has not been proven and Mr. Spitzer will probably not find any proof of that. But this is a big concern."