positions in the wake of the UK banking shocker that saw respected, conservative Barings Bank PLC felled by the unsanctioned actions of a renegade dealer in Singapore.

There was optimism that the collapse of Barings would not have any significant impact in Bermuda.

Bermuda investment specialists, Kast Investment Management Ltd., on Queen Street, was known to place emphasis on the once rock solid Baring's mutual funds. The local firm has some $75 million in assets under management, and as much as two-thirds of it was placed in various Baring funds.

But there was increasing confidence yesterday that the funds' real assets would be protected, outside of the banking operations that now have been placed under administration.

Britain's oldest merchant bank this weekend was put in the hands of three Ernst & Young accountants, at least one of which is well known in Bermuda.

Potential buyers for the banking operations were already lining up, although other issues must be resolved before such a sale could take place.

And in addressing the future of the mutual funds, Kast president Mrs. Anne Kast said in a prepared statement yesterday, "We are still assessing the full impact of what has transpired with the Barings Group and we are still awaiting some further clarification.

"Trading will resume on the offshore funds on Thursday March 2. In the meantime, I am working with Barings to fully clarify as many details as possible. We've really only had one business day to work on a very complicated issue.

"The manager and trustee of Baring International Fund Managers, would like to reassure investors that the securities held by the funds are maintained in segregated accounts on behalf of the unit holders and the cash position will be kept under continuous review.'' Meanwhile, the just appointed administrators of Baring's banking operations, Mr. Nigel Hamilton, Mr. Alan Bloom and Ms Maggie Mills are charged with protecting the assets of the bank.

Mr. Hamilton, together with Mr. Charles Kempe from Kempe & Whittle/Ernst & Young in Bermuda, are the joint liquidators for Bermuda-based Mentor Insurance Company in liquidation.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority general manager, Mr. Malcolm Williams, said that after assessing the situation over Sunday and yesterday, "Our initial preliminary indications are that the overall impact on Bermuda is very small, indeed.'' The conservative nature of the Bermuda banks has kept their assets safe, especially as they have done business with Barings in the past.

The Bank of Bermuda said in a prepared statement that it had evaluated its relationships and identified and quantified all liabilities with Barings.

"These are not material to the Bank of Bermuda's capital and resources,'' the statement read.

"With regard to involvement in securities transactions, we do not invest our clients' nor the bank's assets in highly leveraged derivative investments and our funds are not exposed to the problems in Barings.'' It was just such highly leveraged derivative investments that a single employee in Singapore used to pull Barings Bank down, before disappearing last week.

The Bank of Butterfield was equally brief in its prepared text, saying that its relationship with Baring Brothers "is of a routine nature only and that its group exposure to the failed bank is insignificant.

"The two banks (Baring and Butterfield) were previously joint owners of Barfield Bank & Trust which had offices in Guernsey and The Isle of Man. Bank of Butterfield sold its interest to Barings in 1989.'' The Bermuda Commercial Bank's managing director, Ms Audette Exel, said BCB has no exposure to the Barings Group.

She said the bank does not invest in derivative products, either on its own behalf or on behalf of its clients.

In reflecting the concerns of Bermuda bankers, Ms Exel said, "The Barings crisis underlines the need for rigid controls and procedures at all levels of a bank operations.

"We are fortunate in Bermuda that the banks impose strict internal controls and work closely with the Bermuda Monetary Authority to ensure that crises such as those taken by Barings are prevented in Bermuda.''