event in New York will be encouraged to set up shop in Bermuda today.

Nearly 30 of Bermuda's business leaders in the worlds of e-commerce, banking, insurance and funds have flown to New York and will be speaking at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

William Woods, Chief Executive Officer of the Bermuda Stock Exchange, James Fitzgerald, Chief Executive Officer of TeleBermuda International, Andrea Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of First Atlantic Commerce and Warren Cabral, Partner at Appleby, Spurling and Kempe are among the leading lights speaking at the high-flying event.

"We already have 120 registered at the moment,'' said BIBA spokesman Ross Webber yesterday from New York, "And we expect to have even more tomorrow. It is all going very well and we are prepared for the day's events.'' Registration will take place at 8.30 a.m., and Chairman of BIBA, Raymond Medeiros will give the opening speech.

Then in the morning there are six sessions followed by lunch at the Hilton Room in the Waldorf. The morning talks include Alternative Risk Transfer, Reinsurance, e-Commerce, Trust and Banking, Captives and Alternative Investment Vehicles.

Among those invited are New York legal, accounting, financial and venture capital firms including Morgan Stanley Dean Whitter, Merrill Lynch, DLJ, Mayer Brown & Platt, Credit Lyonais and Deutshe Bank.

"Presenting the Bermuda message to an audience of this senior level further reinforces Bermuda's reputation as a pristine international jurisdiction,'' said Mr. Medeiros.

During the lunch Torn Luciano, Vice President of Concert, which has just opened on the Island, will make a key-note speech.

He will discuss why the joint venture between AT&T and British Telecom chose Bermuda as the headquarters for their joint venture.

In a his speech this morning, Mr. Medeiros is scheduled to say: "We are here to answer your questions and, ultimately, to entice you into discovering firsthand the benefits of working with our jurisdiction, so that you will fully appreciate why we say `Bermuda Means Business'.

He is to explain to the audience that Bermuda's economy and business environment continues to grow.

Banging the Bermuda drum At September 30, 2000 there were nearly ten percent more international businesses registered in Bermuda versus the previous year, with 65 new additions of insurance companies to the register as of September 30, 2000.

He adds: "Our e-commerce industry has been launched and development is constant. The first two quarters of fiscal 2000 alone saw the number of technology and Internet related companies registering in Bermuda increase by 35 percent. Our network of service providers and global client base for e-businesses are growing at a dizzying pace. Supporting the dynamism of our marketplace is one constant: our collective commitment to nurturing our world class business environment.'' He adds: "Our history of high standards and continual upgrading of our sensible regulatory framework has been validated with the positive rankings we received recently from a variety of international taxation and anti-money laundering surveys. As you may be aware, these surveys focused intense scrutiny on offshore centres, and were conducted under the auspices of regulatory bodies in the UK, US, G7 countries and Europe. The intention was to ensure that those centres not complying with the highest international standards with respect to anti-money laundering procedures and tax fraud or evasion were held accountable, and instructed to upgrade their regulatory framework or face possible sanctions.'' BIBA is planning to organise a similar event in London in January.

Among those attending today's conference are, from top left, Ross Webber, Warren Cabral, William Woods, James Fitzgerald and Ifor Hughes .