A lot to answer for

April 6, 2010

This is an open letter to Michael Collins, Senior Executive Vice President, Bank of N.T. Butterfield

Dear Sir,

I shall unfortunately not be able to attend the AGM of shareholders, however through this letter I should like to have my say.

Some of what I have to say will be "tongue in cheek" and others not, I am sure you will know the difference.

First of all let me congratulate you on your promotion. I love what you had to say about making the Bank of Butterfield the number one bank. It would be interesting to hear what Mr. Butterfield from the Bank of Bermuda has to say about that. Let us hope he doesn't put up too much of a fight.

I am sure other shareholders would also very much like to know in a nutshell what exactly happened at the Bank to bring about such a dramatic fall in the fortune of the Bank of Butterfield. One moment, Mr. Thompson tells us how well the Bank of Butterfield is doing despite the recession and global financial crisis and the next thing we hear it is basically bankrupt. How can that happen to a 150-year old bank that must have weathered many storms in their history including the great depression of 1929? Someone must have messed up big time. The way I see it, without the Carlyle Group and others, the Bank would have been just another part of Bermuda history like Trimingham Brothers, Bermudiana Hotel, Castle Harbour etc.

I recollect Mr. Alan Thompson saying last year no one had to worry because all their investments in the American mortgage market were Triple A rated. However I then read the other day of some smart bankers in New York who bought original sub-prime mortgage bonds which were all rated Triple B, put them together, sliced them up again and asked the rating agency to re-rate them. And sure enough some were rated Triple A even though they were originally high-risk sub-prime mortgages. They were then sold on and perhaps Bank of Butterfield bought some of these? Rating agencies have a lot to answer for; maybe they need to be re-rated!

The global financial crisis affected nearly every corner of the globe, but most banks came through it without too much of a problem, just a normal business cycle as always happens in a recession or financial crisis and some banks came out of it, even stronger.

There is something else I should like to request, and that is Mr. Thompson's account number because my lovely wife is really a do-gooder and ever since she found out that he had retired she is worried he does not have enough to retire on because of the low share price and no dividends. She would like to send him a monthly amount of ten rand, which doesn't sound much but it is 50 percent of the allowance she gets a month. Perhaps Mr. Thompson sold his shares before they took a tumble. Transparency never was his strong point.

However, I think it was a brilliant move on his part to bring Mr. Kopp on board. Now there is a man with vast experience particularly from Lehman Brothers. I am not suggesting for one moment he had anything to do with the demise of Lehman Bros, or the problems at the Bank of Butterfield. On the contrary, I am sure he was brought in to get the bank out of their mess. I realise Mr. Kopp left Lehman Brothers before they collapsed but at the same time it took hundreds of bankers a few years through mismanagement, corruption, greed and plain stupidity to bring about the downfall of Lehman Brothers.

On a lighter note, this reminds me of a very interesting article I read which came out of Switzerland. One of the major pharmaceutical research laboratories imported 100 ostriches from Oudtshoorn, South Africa because of their incredibly small heads in comparison to the rest of their bodies. They then asked for 100 volunteers in the banking profession because apparently bankers have bigger heads than other professionals. My neighbour who is Swiss told me every second person in Switzerland who wears a tie and suit is a banker, and he also told me there are strict criteria in Switzerland to be a banker. Just to mention two, one is to have an IQ of not more than 50 and, two, they must have a proven record of extreme greed. Other countries are not so strict and to be a banker one needs no IQ at all. Coming back to the findings of the research laboratory, it would appear the average ostrich had more brain cells than the average banker. People are going to say they already knew that and could have saved the Swiss a lot of money.

Bankers have a lot to answer for. From what we read in the newspapers the clergy are joining them but, to be fair, looking back on my childhood when I was an altar boy for eight years nothing ever happened to me and neither did I ever hear of anything. If something would have happened I would definitely sue the Pope and it wouldn't matter that he comes from the next village to where I grew up, I sure could use the money.

Bankers who misbehaved and the small number of clergy who misbehaved have one thing in common … I don't want to spell it out or my letter will be censored.

J. SCHMID

South Africa

P.s. Please don't forget the account number for Mr. Alan Thompson.

Stop the bad driving

April 7, 2010

Dear Sir,

I know that there are more important issues to complain about, but myself and other residences of Duncombe Road are tired of the irresponsible road users of Dunscombe Road

1. This road is a through road between Ord Road and South Shore Road, but there are homes on this road. This road is not their personal race track. There are blind entrances. There are two sides to this road with a yellow line indicating which is your side and which is mine. Why do people continually drive on both sides of the road (a problem everywhere unfortunately) especially when they are going around corners, well, because they are going too fast to stay on their side! Slow down. There are blind gates in this area particularly Whale Watch area and Faraway Apartments, these are both on corners.

2. People, both visitors to residences and residents illegally park religiously on this road despite the yellow line which means no parking. There is one lady who religiously parks her car on the yellow line outside her house on Dunscombe Road just around the corner coming up from South Shore. There have been many close-call accidents and a few people have been forced up against the wall or slam brakes because vehicles are having to overtake this parked car, fearing for your safety not knowing what is coming up from South Shore around the corner. The funny thing is an open lot that residents in the area use for parking only a few yards away, and there is room. It is not our problem that your landlord doesn't have parking for your car. What is it going to take before something is done about this? Does someone have to be seriously injured before our complaints are taken seriously?

3. Another area of illegal parking is around the corner past Whale Watch on the northern side of Dunscombe Road where residents park their car and truck on the corner every night.

I know the Police have more serious issues they are dealing with right now but I would like to see more every night come around and slapped tickets on these illegally parked vehicles, maybe then something will be done before it is too late.

WARWICK RESIDENT

DeVent is on the mark

April 7, 2010

Dear Sir,

How can we expect Bermuda to move forward in these times of trouble when the leaders of this country are so brainless? Of course this is a massive generalisation but Minister Burch needs to remember that international business is under no obligation to remain in Bermuda. These scathing attacks including term limits, recent legislation with reference to non-English speakers etc are driving businesses to the likes of Switzerland.

Once the Senator succeeds in isolating Bermuda, maybe more traditional cash cows can be milked. For example tourism … Oh wait, the Government has already done its utmost to pummel the tourism industry into the dirt. It now looks to follow suit with international business.

Not to mention gun crime. The people of Bermuda urge those with responsibility to think outside the box and not to fear breaking the mould. MP DeVent's recent proposition to decriminalise cannabis is counter-intuitive and sensible. Uneducated and uninformed implications aside, this would provide millions in taxed revenue and when looking at the Netherlands, there are no negative implications on the international stage. This would also provide gangs with one less reason to shoot and may boost the consciousness and spirituality amongst young Bermudians which is so painfully missing.

POLITICALLY CHARGED

Warwick

Inexcusable mistake

April 8, 2010

Dear Sir,

Zane DeSilva, in his capacity as Acting Minister of Health, announced on April 2, World Autism Awareness Day, on the steps of City Hall, that his Government would fund the Autism charity, Bermuda Autism Support and Education (BASE), to the amount of $20,000. He made a speech about how his Government had already worked with BASE, and announced that his government was "committed to helping".

Then, a few days later, a civil servant announced that it was all a mistake on the civil servant's part. Another charity will get the money, and BASE will get nothing.

I can't imagine a more despicable and inexcusable turn of events.

When he was in front of the public, the Acting Minister, whether due to his own incompetence or his Ministry's, said that significant financial support would be given to this group. He was quite happy to receive the applause. To now reverse this, saying it was a "mistake", is a cruel blow, particularly as the people involved – children with autism – are as deserving and needing of help as one can imagine.

And when he said he was "committed to helping", I can't imagine what he was talking about. Promising funding and then withdrawing days later it is not "helping".

Acting Minister DeSilva, you should do the right thing. Either find the money in your Ministry, or perhaps make a personal donation in the amount you announced, to this deserving charity.

REGISTERED VOTER

Devonshire

Has Bermuda moved?

March 31, 2010

Dear Sir,

I applaud the decision to install warning lights at some of the busier pedestrian crossings in Hamilton and other parts of the island. What has me perplexed, however, is the orientation of some of the solar collectors at these sites. It appears the techs that have installed these units are of the opinion that Bermuda has moved nine degrees south, due to the recent plate tectonic activity in the Atlantic.

Several of these sites have one of the collectors facing north, which in my opinion does not allow it to collect the maximum radiant energy to operate the unit or store for future use. Surely someone involved with the installation of these units must realise this mistake and will take action to rectify.

BILL NEARON

Pembroke West

Already out of control

April 7, 2010

Dear Sir,

On Tuesday, April 6, you quoted Police Supt. Antoine Daniels as saying, "… there is no real evidence to suggest that the current situation will spiral out of control and become unmanageable".

As far as I'm concerned, the recent gun crime clearly indicates that the situation has already spiralled out of control.

JENNIFER LAPSLEY

Paget