the focal point of business news over October and November. Bermuda only has two of them -- the St. George's Club and the Hamiltonian Island Club -- and they both hit the headlines.

In perhaps the biggest business story of the year, the luxurious 65-unit St.

George's Club was seized by its principal creditor, Canadian-based Central Guaranty Trust Company (CGTC), which is owed $9 million.

That was the gist of the story, but spin-off angles made just as interesting reading.

Police began investigating alleged fraud involving the Club's parent company, York-Hannover, which was subsequently put into bankruptcy by a Bermuda resident.

Bermuda Commercial Bank got caught up in the row when it seized $380,000 it had loaned to the club, but was accused of doing so illegally by CGTC, which said it was going to sue the bank.

Then it was revealed that CGTC itself was in deep financial trouble and was being bought by the Toronto Dominion Bank in a deal sweetened by the largest bail-out in Canadian Government history.

CGTC also announced that an offer to buy the St. George's Club had come in from a well-known North American hotelier, which is still being considered.

But who will take on the project's $79 million debt, $70 million of which is internally owed to the financially broke York-Hannover group of companies.

On a lighter note, two American timeshare salesmen who had been working at the Hamiltonian Island Club without work permits made a quick dash for the Airport after being exposed by The Royal Gazette . The haste of their departure -- indeed, one of the pair did not even stop to pack his belongings -- seemed to indicate they thought they were in imminent danger of being locked up by Bermuda's authorities.

But, for all the lack of interest Bermuda's Department of Immigration showed, (there was considerable evidence that they had known about the salesmen's activities for several weeks and did nothing), they could have escaped tortoise-like and still had time to spare.

According to Hamiltonian owner Mr. Harold Stavisky, who is Jewish, the most serious point of the whole episode was that he had been interrupted by a journalist over Yom Kippur, the holiest period in the Jewish calendar, to be asked for a comment.

A woman pedestrian who was seriously injured when a motorcyclist knocked her down was awarded $650,000 in damages -- believed to be a record in Bermuda.

Supreme Court heard that tourist Mrs. Theresa Haley changed from an outgoing and active person into being withdrawn and forgetful following the accident, in 1985.

The court said her husband had also suffered because of the accident. It awarded him a nominal $500 -- for loss of sex with his wife as a result of the change which had come over her.

LOCAL NEWS Bermudian women Kathy D'Estelle Roe and Mrs. Lesley Hoskins are ruing the day they decided to go into business for the first time after being left with debts of of $100,000 following their disastrous involvement with the Blue Moon Restaurant in Hamilton.

They bought the Blue Moon for $265,000 in 1988 from private detective Bill Black, but sold it four years later for just $60,000.

The new owner was Mrs. Betty Compagnon, a past owner who had previously sold the business to Mr. Black in 1986 for a sum thought to be in the region of $115,000.

After all the transactions, Mr. Black had made a profit of $150,000, Mrs.

Compagnon had made a profit of $55,000 and still owned the business, but the two women lost an incredible $205,000. Both their marriages broke up, to boot.

Mrs. D'Estelle Roe criticised her expatriate former husband who, she said, had fled Bermuda without meeting his share of the debts and was currently "living in a boat with a few dollars in his pocket''.

The women said they would not do a "Bill and Wendy Meade'', though, and pledged to stay and pay off their creditors in full.

While on the subject of the Meades, it was disclosed that the couple, who fled Bermuda leaving behind debts estimated at $250,000, could face charges carrying a maximum prison sentence of two years if they ever set foot on the Island again.

"Any prosecutor would have a field day with them,'' said one local lawyer.

Another person in financial trouble was Mr. Stanley Thomas, whose real estate agency has gone out of business.

In the 15 months prior to October, Supreme Court had made awards totalling $294,556 against him and related parties.

The Ram's Head owner Miss Cathy Ferreira announced a change of image for the pub/restaurant. Two weeks later it closed down.

Miss Ferreira claimed that she had been misled about the pub's debts when she took it over earlier in the year.

With all these people owing money, the name of one of the new businesses which opened during October should have come as no surprise to anyone -- it was Bermuda Debt Collection Agency.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS Acumen Ltd., the firm of actuaries in Trinidad which is managing the failed United Security Life Insurance Company (USL), showed its commitment to free speech -- it sacked Mr. Brian Fortier after he criticised Bermuda's regulatory bodies for their part in USL's collapse.

Acumen said Mr. Fortier's contract had come to a natural close, which was obviously not the case since the USL mess, which he was in charge of clearing up, is still to this day far from being resolved. Others involved in the case admitted Mr. Fortier had been fired for speaking to The Royal Gazette .

According to some, the opening in Bermuda of reinsurance firm North American Fidelity and Guarantee Ltd. was another case of the absolute truth not being told.

Local resident Mr. John G. Marshall, a Canadian former banker, said that he was personally providing all of the firm's $100 million start-up capital, much to the surprise of the local industry.

They speculated that Mr. Marshall might be a front for an overseas interest.

Texaco's captive Heddington Insurance said it expected to take a $20 million loss on an oil explosion near Los Angeles.

Scandinavian Re. announced that its ultimate parent company, the Asea Brown Boveri group, had authorised a $50 million increase of its paid-up capital.

Mr. Jens Juul, president and CEO of Scandinavian Re., said the boost in equity would effectively separate the firm from a number of less well capitalised competitors.

GTE Re laid off nine people in an effort to streamline the firm's operation.

Bermuda-based Mutual Risk Management announced a record profit of $11.37 million for the first nine months of 1992 -- 66 percent up on same period the previous year.

CODA, on the other hand, reported a nine month profit of $23 million -- down by 3.6 percent.

High excess liability insurer ACE, which has assets of $2 billion, reported a profit of $10.45 million for fiscal 1992 -- down 84 percent on previous year.

This deterioration in performance was largely as a result of losses and loss expenses being increased by 51.4 percent from $306 million to $463.3 million.

Property catastrophe reinsurer Mid Ocean Re began operations, with a start-up capital of more than $350 million. President Mr. Ian Heap likened the company's formation to that of ACE, EXEL and Centre Re.

Property casualty insurer Paumanock Insurance stopped taking on new business and was put up for sale. The company recently took a hit on Hurricane Andrew, with its gross loss before reinsurance coming to $30 million.

Estimates as to its net loss varied between $10 and $20 million, according to industry sources.

There will be negative implications for Anchor Underwriting Management, which did the Paumanock's underwriting.

IN THE COURTS Bermuda supermarket firm Giant Foods settled out of court with US chain Giant Food, which alleged it stole its logo.

The local company was quick to stress that it was not admitting anything by settling the action. Yet the logo was identical to that of its US counterpart.

The Bermuda firm hadn't added an `s' to the name Food, which meant that its own logo did not accurately carry the name of the company.

Rebel shareholders of Bermuda Cablevision suffered a defeat at a special general meeting of the company at which they sought to make Cablevision pay for a court hearing to clear up the legality of the firm's ownership structure.

Undeterred, shareholder Mr. Jeff Conyers decided he would pay for the legal costs himself if he had to and filed a Supreme Court writ against the company and its directors.

In a case that had ramifications for every Bermuda professional who sits on the Board of a company, Mr. David Thirkill and Mr. Douglas Pullen won an important court battle.

They were being sued for $19.7 million by the liquidators of Focus Insurance, of which they were both former directors.

In striking out the action, the Court of Appeal said a director could not be held responsible for the actions of a fellow director who may be up to no good if they have no reason to suspect him.

The case against another former director, Mr. Mark Hardy, who ran the insurance firm, was allowed to stand.

Supreme Court rejected a claim for $319,966 against the Oasis Club by Atlantic Entertainment, which used to run The Comedy Club at the nightclub.

IN OTHER NEWS The Bank of Bermuda increased its bank charges, including the introduction of a $3 per month charge for chequeing accounts.

It was disclosed that Burger Island, which was wound up earlier in the year, had an unsecured debt of $582,229, with $105,959 of this owed to wholesaler J.

S. Vallis and Co.

The largest creditor was the Bank of Butterfield. But the $549,311 owed to the Bank was secured against the premises that houses the Robin Hood pub and restaurant.