on the company's global and local operations with a view to improving the bank's profitability and share price. He wants to fix the bank.

Already two months into his job, president and chief executive officer John Tugwell has made his presence known by chopping Butterfield's 23-person Singapore office.

"In the last five to six years the bank's performance has been lacklustre,'' Mr. Tugwell said in an interview. "The shareholder is very poorly served...The market is saying this is not a very good bank.'' While the bank's operations locally and globally are under review, he emphasises none of the 800 staff based in Bermuda will be made redundant. The bank also has operations in London, Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands, and Guernsey with a total additional staff of about 300. Those units that he doesn't think can achieve a standard of 15 percent return on equity will either be closed down, or merged and consolidated with other units. In Bermuda some job positions could be lost but workers will be retrained and offered new positions in the bank.

"No, categorically, there is not going to be a redundancy programme in Bermuda,'' he said in an interview. "...I am looking at all units and see what are my winners. Those that I don't think can't achieve within a reasonably short time a 15 percent return on equity I will merge, consolidate with other units. I will expect to use the people resource (in Bermuda) in other functions.'' He is also worried by what he says has been a continual attrition of top staff from the bank which he believes stems from a morale problem.

"It's very worrying for a CEO,'' he said. "It is the staff saying `Where is the bank going?''' He closed the Singapore office because it was not achieving what the bank had set out to accomplish when it set up operations two years ago. This was to capture business movement out of Hong Kong and to compete locally as a mutual fund administrator.

"Both objectives were not met,'' he said. "There was no drift of business.

It went to Canada, Bermuda, or the likes and the second point was that it is very difficult to break into a well established mutual fund administration centre as a relative newcomer. The best way probably to do it is to buy your way into an established business. We didn't do that. It didn't work out. And when I looked at the plans this year it still wasn't working.'' He said closing the office will save the bank "substantial costs'' and redirect management's energy toward overseeing more profitable operations.

Directing management toward concentrating on its core business of trust administration, fund administration, investment management, corporate services and high-net worth private banking.

"This bank has not put enough energy into its core businesses,'' he said.

"It has really in a sense frittered away the advantages of its core businesses and trying to develop profit streams which are not core and synonymous with the Butterfield name.'' Mr. Tugwell said he will be making a public announcement about his plans within the next week.

The Bank of Butterfield had net income of $29 million for the year ended June 30, 1996, a 7.2 decrease over the 1995 results. The bank's shares traded at $12 yesterday.