The Bank of Bermuda will take more of a leadership position in the Island under Henry B. Smith.

Half of his young 48 years have been spent working for the bank, and after a month in the top job as president and CEO, he finds that he typically spends half of a 24-hour-day working on behalf of the bank.

He brings a different brand of leadership to Bermuda's biggest "home-grown'' company, but like his predecessors, he refuses to chain himself to an eight-hour day.

Like many Bermuda executives who operate for an increasingly international, and multi-time zone market, there is no rush to enjoy Bermuda's alluring environment. Instead, he is busy working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for both the benefit of bank shareholders, and he says, for the collective benefit of Bermuda.

He really sees the bank's mandate, not just in the narrow corporate terms of the interests of shareholders, but also in the maintenance, promotion and advancement of the interests of the Island as a whole.

This is not to say that he doesn't stop to smell the flowers. He is quick to point out that it is the Bermudian in him that insists that the interests of an island of such physical and social beauty and grace should be omnipresent in the minds of the leaders of corporate Bermuda.

His two teenaged children are abroad in school. That allows him the luxury of 12-hour business days, not all of which are spent in stuffy board rooms.

He is spending a lot of time meeting with his staff, establishing a dialogue, after hearing calls for a need to change some of the structures of the leading institution.

"I was hearing that the bank was not focusing on its people, was not communicating. It needed change. Some of our staff felt that they were lost in the shuffle, with no opportunities to advance.

"I was being told that people felt they couldn't climb the ladder, or didn't know what they were supposed to be doing.

"That's maybe a bit of an overstatement, but that's what I was hearing.'' Having started as a teller 24 years ago, the career banker has worked in various departments of the bank, including time off the Island in the bank's overseas offices.

He knows staff must understand how important their role is in the larger scheme of things. And to make the institution more profitable, more successful, more people at the bank must work collectively toward a recognised objective.

"People,'' he said, "don't necessarily have to be deliriously happy about coming to work, but they have to feel satisfied with the job, and be excited occasionally about what they are doing. They have to feel like they are a part of this place and are going to make a difference.

"So we are making changes over time. The one thing I've done already is to target different groups within the organisation to tell me how they see what's going on in the bank.'' This is not the Bank of Bermuda of Donald Lines's time, who built a glorious institution by centralising authority within his office, or even Charles Vaughan-Johnson, whose contrasting style in some ways involved de-centralising the authority through delegating responsibilities.

Mr. Smith is already the Vaughan-Johnson-like diplomat, and it remains to be seen if he can be the Lines-like steam engine in his new role. But he is concerned that his staff must understand their role.

He said, "What frustrated me sometimes, as I went through this organisation, was that very often I felt my abilities were not being used, that I had ideas that were not being listened to. I felt there were sometimes managers for whom you simply had to do what they wanted you to do. They had all the answers and you just did what you were told. I am not that way and I don't think many people are.

"So, I want staff today to understand that I don't have all the answers and even if I thought I did, I wouldn't force them through. Other people need to make a contribution, too.

"Donald (Lines) is extremely capable. He ran the bank very successfully. But in the process, it was hard to grow under that kind of regime, because you didn't get a chance to make decisions yourself.'' Smith to stamp his identity at bank "People who work for the bank, because its such a large institution, have to understand what the business is that we are in, what is important to this organisation and what isn't. How should you treat a client? Your people should have this training, and once they do, you're crazy if you don't let them use those skills.'' Mr. Smith said that Bermuda's slim-margin banking institutions have to compete for quality labour in the marketplace, with other industries, particularly the insurance industry, that can afford to pay better compensation. He concedes banks have not had a good reputation for good staff pay. His view of the bank in the future is one with fewer staff, who are better compensated.

The Bank of Bermuda's major business today is corporate and private trust, followed by fund management and then banking. But he sees retail banking becoming stronger in the future, with improvements in products and services.

He is identifying areas of potential growth.

"There's still lots of opportunity in the trust business, banking and a big area of opportunity is the whole investment management business. The Stock Exchange is growing quickly and has real promise as an offshore exchange.'' The bank intends to be more aggressive in marketing their stock to local and international investors. The thinking is that people will eventually see the value in a lot of Bermuda market stocks that continue to trade below book value. The local exchange, said Mr. Smith, won't always suffer from a lack of liquidity.

But he noted that to be really successful, the exchange will have to move beyond just bank ownership. He personally sees the need to expand the base of participants in the exchange, and eventually attract very major players.

He said, "Such large players are market makers, and they will bring their markets to the exchange. Part of the ownership will probably have to leave the country.

"It is difficult to maintain the substantial Bermudian ownership even in a bank here because it is hard to raise capital in this very small market. We need to access to international markets to really be successful in raising capital.

"Also international clients expect international experience, knowledge and expertise. That is hard to grow here. The stock exchange will become more international, as you see more Bermudians participating fully in more of the international companies here and probably more international people participating in more local concerns.'' But he also said, "There is great demand for great investment advice and I think that is an area where the bank, and Bermuda in general, will see great growth. We are spending millions of dollars putting in new systems in this area.

"We are putting in a new information system for private trusts and a new investment portfolio management system. The investment system is just about in and the trust system is going into Guernsey first, before being spread around.

" A real issue is whether or not we can keep up. Systems cost a lot. Some of the US banks are paying $80 million to $100 million a year on new systems. We can't do that. We may need to make new international alliances in areas where we can't commit the resources to technologically compete. The alliances would allow us to use their information systems.'' The bank operates in 16 jurisdictions, and everyone of them Mr. Smith said is like Bermuda, in that it is expensive to do business.

"That is where our business sits. You name them, Hong Kong, Guernsey and Jersey, Luxembourg. They are all expensive and most more expensive than here.

That is a fact of life for us and so we have to learn to do more for less.'' HENRY B. SMITH -- After a month in the top job as president and CEO of the Bank of Bermuda, he finds that he typically spends half of a 24-hour-day working on behalf of the bank.