The Bank of Bermuda has seen one of its senior managers ? Danny Fox ? leave the bank, although neither the bank nor Mr. Fox yesterday gave specifics of his departure.

Mr. Fox, head of the bank?s personal financial services division until recently, was yesterday contacted at home and confirmed that he had quit the bank.

He declined to speak to the reasons for his departure, saying he would prefer the bank be contacted on the matter. He did say that he had left the bank ? where he reportedly worked for more than 30 years ? on good terms.

A bank spokesperson told We can confirm that Danny Fox left the bank on 31 December 2004 to pursue a number of personal interests. We are currently in the process of recruiting a suitable replacement.?

A report reaching this newsroom yesterday said Mr. Fox had left the bank after an HSBC executive was brought in.

Multinational banking giant HSBC Plc bought up the bank last February for $1.3 billion and immediately named two HSBC executives to the bank?s number two and three spots ? chief operations officer and chief financial officer.

As of October, the bank said it had only taken on five staff from HSBC. This included the COO and CFO jobs, filled by Andy Gent and Nigel Crow, while Gonzalo Jalles was hired later in the year to head the bank?s new asset management division.

Another HSBC contract hire was also reportedly being brought onboard to oversee the bank?s integration to HSBC?s technology platform.