Bermuda is still perceived as a place to hide things by some in the American business community.

That is according to an anecdote relayed to delegates at the Bermuda Captive Conference yesterday by panellist Keith Ryan, vice-president, director of financial shared services, for Lincoln Financial Group.

Lincoln is one of the biggest financial services companies in the US and was the country's number four in life insurance sales last year. It self-insures some of its own risks through its captive insurance company, domiciled in Bermuda.

"We have 16 board members and periodically one will leave and a new one will come in," Mr. Ryan said.

"The new member would not know much about our business in Bermuda, where Lincoln has a captive.

"They will say, 'What are you guys hiding offshore? What kind of risks have you got there? You guys must be doing something that's not right'. That's what the new board member thinks."

New directors were not the only ones who might perceive an offshore connection negatively, he added.

"In a conversation with a rating agency, which was rating our US businesses, I happened to mention that we moved something offshore," Mr. Ryan added.

"Whenever you mention Bermuda, Barbados or Cayman, it sends shivers through people.

"There's nothing wrong or illegal in what we're doing, but you can't communicate that enough to people."