Joseph Rebello to the position of assistant vice president-automotive sales.

He will be responsible for assisting the vice president of the division Tony Martin with the overall management of HWP Group's automotive sales division.

Mr. Rebello joined the company in 1995 as a sales rep for the Daihatsu franchise. He was promoted to manager and when the company restructured in 1998 he was promoted to manage both Daihatsu and Opel, taking on Mitsubishi as well in 1998.

"It is rewarding to be a part of the continuous improvements the company is making with our customer relations and service,'' Mr. Rebello said.

*** MICHAEL DOUGLAS JOINS IRMG APP Michael Douglas joins IRMG Michael Douglas has joined IRMG in New Jersey as vice president where he will be assisting clients with captive management and risk management needs. Mr.

Douglas previously worked in Bermuda for Marsh as vice president of reinsurance and has 20 years experience in reinsurance here and London.

*** BANK ANOUNCES BASE RATE RISE BUC Bank announces base rate rise Bank of Butterfield announced yesterday it will be increasing its Bermuda dollar base rate by .25 percent to 6.50 percent with effect today. This follows increases in Strata Savings and fixed term Bermuda dollar deposits last month.

"The increase is in keeping with recent interest rate rises in the major world financial markets, most notably in the United States, Canada, and the UK, but will only affect those customers whose borrowings are at variable interest rates linked directly to the Bank's Bermuda dollar rate,'' Bank executive vice president and chief financial officer Richard Ferrett said.

"The Bank will be giving three months notice to existing customers with variable rate residential mortgages of an increase in their interest by .25 percent to 9.5 percent to take effect May 22. Customers with personal loans and mortgages at fixed rates of interest are unaffected by the changes.'' *** LEGERE TO HEAD ASIA GLOBAL BUC Legere to head Asia Global A joint venture involving Bermuda-based Global Crossing has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer. John J. Legere is joining Asia Global Crossing in the top position from where he will oversee the building of undersea cables and terrestrial networks in Asia and the introduction of web-hosting, co-location, and data-centric products and services.