Finance Minister Paula Cox has said the Ministry of Finance will file a submission to the recently announced UK House of Commons Treasury Committee inquiry into offshore financial centres.

"The Ministry of Finance submission will highlight Bermuda's role as an international financial centre, the particular role of reinsurance in the global market, our jurisdiction's underpinnings in KYC (know your customer) and the continuing enhancements that are being made to Bermuda's anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regimes. This will be done in time for the June 19, 2008 deadline set by the UK House Treasury Committee.

"Government welcomes this opportunity to put out the good story that Bermuda merits in the global marketplace. The Ministry of Finance invites private sector partners to make similar submissions highlighting additional points about their systems and processes that assist in sustaining Bermuda's reputation for probity and transparency in its business practices."

Ms Cox also urged the private sector to make similar submissions "highlighting the role that their sectors play in contributing to the stability and transparency of the global financial system".

"The recent comments by the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, known as ABIR, on the UK Committee of Public Accounts (CPA) report were timely and effective in countering out-dated information and ill-informed comment," Ms Cox added.

"In this instance, Bermuda as a jurisdiction has an open opportunity to make a timely intervention that will underscore the enduring quality of our domicile as a premier international financial centre."

CPA chairman Edward Leigh had described Bermuda's anti-money laundering efforts as "appalling", but ABIR president Bradley Kading hit back, said progress was being made on the money laundering front and that the UK should be proud of Bermuda's insurance solvency regulation.