listed securities, total market capitalisation and trading volumes.

By December 31, the BSX had 190 securities listed with a total market capitalisation of $47 billion, compared with 137 securities and a market capitalisation of $37 billion, a year before.

Total trading volumes mushroomed nearly 229 percent from $3.4 billion to $11.172 billion, as share volume leapt 300 percent from 56 million to 224 million.

The BSX attributed the increase primarily to the heavy international crossing volumes. The volume of international crosses increased by $7.7 billion to $11 billion on a volume of 216 million shares in 1997.

The volume of domestic shares increased to 6.5 million in 1997 from the 1996 year of 2.9 million shares.

The total value of the domestic shares traded on the exchange rose 170 percent from $35.7 million to $96.4 million.

BSX CEO, William A. Woods, said, "We are very proud of the results achieved during 1997. Our success this past year adds greatly to our credibility and clearly demonstrates the strength of the BSX in attracting new listings. We are on a growth path which we are confident will continue throughout 1998.'' Domestic bond trading was also up, increasing to $2.4 million on a volume of 1.5 million nominal value in 1997 from $900,000 on a volume of 700,000 nominal value in 1996.

The most active domestic issue was the Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Ltd.

with 3.163 million shares traded, followed by the Bank of Bermuda, BELCO Holdings Ltd., Bermuda Commercial Bank and TeleBermuda International.

The BSX listed other highlights for the year as including: the listing total of more than 100 mutual funds; average monthly crossing volumes exceeding a billion US dollars; the cross-listing of three major international insurers (ACE Ltd., EXEL Ltd.

and Mutual Risk Management Ltd.); an increase in its membership base to nine trading members; the creation of a new membership category for listing sponsors and adding its first new listing sponsor, Voyager Financial Services; and increasing the number of employees from four to nine.

The BSX also signed an agreement with CATEX International to start an electronic risk exchange in Bermuda. The exchange also formed a partnership with FTSE International to launch a Bermuda insurance index to track the performance of the Bermuda insurance market.

During the year, the BSX announced the creation of a new web site, the Offshore Funds Network (www.offshorefunds.net), dedicated entirely to offshore fund information, which is set for launch early this year.