Well, that's an interesting story, in that not so long after arriving back in Bermuda, (former Bank of Bermuda CEO) Henry Smith and I had a lunch with the then chair of the Hospitals Board. She had come to see us because the hospital was just beginning to lay out the capital plans that they had for the foreseeable future. She said to us: 'What would really make my day would be for you to write us out a cheque for $20 million.'

We said that wasn't going to happen, but we would be able to completely support you. The more the conversation went on, it became clear that one of the fundamental needs here was to correctly identify some of the long-term issues that the hospital was having to wrestle with.

Once we had that issue determination understood, then we could ask the more fundamental questions as to what level of support the hospital enjoyed, or what kind of capital campaign or additional financial support, other than the Bank, might be available.

She continued to talk about the idea over a number of months. Then there was a change of leadership at the hospital and Jonathan Brewin (BHB chairman) came on side.

At that point, we decided that the best thing we could do ? this is in the spirit of teaching people how to catch fish instead of giving them fish ? that we could conduct a feasibility study. We aimed to find out the perception of the hospital in the community and to what extent people were willing to support the hospital. Thirdly, we wanted to rate the professional reputation of the hospital.

In order to demonstrate our commitment, we said we would fund this feasibility study.

Yes. At that time the Bank and the Foundation were the same thing, but since then the Foundation has split from the Bank and is a separate legal entity.

At that time I had just taken the chairmanship of the Foundation's Health & Human Services Committee. The Foundation has four areas of interest: education, heritage (arts and culture), youth development and health and human services.

: The study reported that there was a high level of goodwill towards the hospital. Secondly, there were concerns about how any charitable money raised would be spent. So clearly the giving community wanted to give to health, but they felt the need for some intermediary body between themselves and the hospital.

The more we talked about that, the more it became clear to a number of us that we should give consideration to forming an entity that would operate in that capacity. So we came up with this notion of a charitable trust.

I was asked to consider chairing it, because I didn't have enough to do! But I was quite willing to serve because health care is such an important issue.

That's right. I was very pleased with the number of persons who have donated their time to the Trust. It is the A-list of people in Bermuda who have experience of making things happen, people who are successful in their own right and want what's best for Bermuda. We are committed to collaboratively raising a great amount of money ? and I think that's very significant in that it shows a strong sense of citizenship.

While I accept that it's an added responsibility, it's one that I welcome and more so because of the folks I'm working with.

Yes and no. Yes, in that it's an essential ingredient of human life. There's no denying that at some point everyone needs the hospital ? we either start there or finish there, or both, among other things.

Secondly, in my capacity then as chief operating officer of the Bank, the human resources function reported to me and the Bank's health care scheme was a part of our responsibility and at the time it was an area with costs increasing most rapidly.

We are the largest private employer on island outside of Government. And one of my concerns was to find out what was driving our health care costs up and to find out how we could be pro-active in addressing this challenge.

One of the things we discovered was that a significant proportion of our expense was driven by three or four different areas of illness and yet we had no proactive programmes in place to deal with those illnesses.

So my interest in health is both personal and professional.

We're doing two things. One is the hospital's master estate plan that will be presented in the spring of next year. It is under way and there will be a series of periodic reviews of the progress of that plan.

I and some of my fellow trustees will have the opportunity to have a first pass review some time later this month and we'll be part of the process to oversee refinements to that plan.

In the meantime, one of the things we're spending our time on is raising awareness. That is why interviews such as this one are a real help.

We need friends to help us communicate effectively and accurately the reasons for and the role of the Trust, because once we are up and functioning, we're going to need the participation of every section of this community and the media can play an effective role in that process.

Most importantly, what we're doing right now is nurturing all of those individuals and companies who have expressed a desire to help us financially. It's relationship-building. So we're out there having conversations and exchanging information, making sure we don't lose any share of mind.

Our selling strategy is very straightforward. The Trust is comprised of some very capable people from within our community who have accepted the responsibility of ensuring that money is spent wisely.

So we will be a source of grey hair, advice and experience to work with the Hospitals Board and help advise them on how money should be spent. We will assist them in making the best possible choices for Bermuda. And we will report on our work to the general public and to all of those who choose to make money available to us.

None of us are being paid for this, but we recognise the importance of this responsibility and we believe that an entity such as the Charitable Trust is a good vehicle to demonstrate collaboration between the public and private sectors.

(Other BHCT board members are: David Lang, Gil Tucker, Andrew Martin, Jonathan Brewin, Gavin Arton, Peggy Couper, Brian Duperreault, Don Mackenzie, Garry Madeiros, Jane Spurling, Lady Jacqueline Swan, Austin Thomas, Alan Thompson and Dr. Wilbert Warner.)

Yes, it will be a very public launch. But we have already had on-going conversations with major contributors. And I would expect that, prior to the public launch, we would be able to announce a number of major companies and individuals, who will have stepped forward and said: 'We're on side.' Absolutely, yes. We have a number of major organisations on island who have already made firm commitments to support the Trust. Currently, the operating expenses of the Trust are being met by ourselves, the Bank of Bermuda Foundation, and by XL. So we're already demonstrating our commitment. What I would say to you is that we will do what's necessary. That's not a means of evading the question, but I do think it's a little early in the process because once the estate plan is completed then we will attach a financial number to that plan. Then we can reach a determination on how much of that figure can be raised through charitable means and how much needs to be funded in other ways.

Right now it would be totally speculative to put a number on what we might raise. But I would say there is sufficient goodwill in this community for us to do quite well and to demonstrate that a community of our size and affluence is quite capable of that.

I am most fortunate to have a number of persons who are out there getting the story told and it's the directors of the Trust who are keeping really busy. We meet regularly and we have progress reports. The Trust has an executive director, Wendy Augustus, and one of the things she does really well is that she follows up to make sure the phone calls and visits we said we would make did in fact take place.

So she has worked with the likes of Brian Duperreault, Alan Thompson, Garry Madeiros, Gavin Arton and myself and we all comply with her requests. Those are the people who are keeping quite busy nurturing contacts.

Life is good ? busy but rewarding, both personally and professionally. In certain respects, it's a lot different from what it was like previously. I don't have too many people I can turn to, because the buck does stop here and I've learned to accept that. But I also enjoy the challenge of sitting in this seat and I understand the responsibilities. And I look forward to coming to work every day. No, it's quite different, since the takeover. We're putting a lot of our energies into integrating the infrastructure of the Bank of Bermuda with HSBC. That requires a lot of planning and careful deliberation because we need to choose the pace at which those things take place. We all want the same result but there's quite a bit of hard work that has to go into it between now and then.

Also we are working to make sure that we are properly responding to the needs of our clients, who have had certain expectations of us since the merger. I think we are meeting those needs in the main and we are responding to the needs of the international business community in a meaningful way. We're also doing more things locally for customers, both individuals and corporations.

So I would say we're knocking on every door that's available to us. I wouldn't say we are firing on all cylinders but I would say we are making acceptable progress.

Undoubtedly so. Being a part of the second-largest financial services company in the world changes the dynamic of what you can do for customers.

The winners in every instance are our customers, because they now have more choice. Our staff have also benefited because they are now able to participate in their own professional development in a more meaningful way than they might have been beforehand. They can avail themselves with training and secondment opportunities. So I would say we have been able to bring benefits to a large segments of our clients and our staff.

The target of 150, just to put it in perspective, is a global number and Bermuda's share of that is relatively nominal ? I think something like 31 to 33 of those jobs were in Bermuda. Most of the jobs were shed in our overseas operations.

We achieved that target, but it's quite understandable from a population of 3,000 persons ? that's our global head count. When you put two operations together you're always going to find overlap. A smaller company is always going to be able to find things it can do more efficiently when it becomes part of a larger enterprise.

Any jobs that were of a global nature, now that we're part of HSBC, they no longer will exist. There have been some natural pockets of attrition.

But I think in the long run, one of the outstanding conclusions about this transaction is that we've created new jobs. In the case of the Bermuda jurisdiction, we've expanded our capabilities locally and we've provided opportunities for our staff to augment their training.

I would certainly expect that. We will be bringing a number of HSBC businesses that are domiciled elsewhere to Bermuda, as HSBC becomes become more confident and familiar with the Bermuda jurisdiction. Not at the moment. But I think if you look at our principal lines of business, whether it's private banking or fund administration business, you will see some transactions take place that augment our presence in Bermuda. If I had more time, I'd like to spend more of it on the golf course. Having participated in the Bank's golf tournament last Saturday, it's clear I need to put in more practice! But I didn't injure anybody and there were even occasions when my shot counted.

I do like to try and achieve some balance in my life, but at the moment the majority of my time is spent on the job. But that's fine with me.

Yes. Our two daughters are grown. Our eldest is Charlene, who's 31, and she's an analyst with Standard & Poor's in New York. And our youngest is Vern?e , who is 26 and is completing graduate school and is getting a master's dregree. My wife is Roz and her working life means she spends a lot of time in the US.

Everybody's busy but the family provides me with the support that I need.