For a good long term investment there is no safer bet than the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX).

With the highly volatile world stock markets fluctuating wildly at the moment as seen on the Dow Jones, London's FTSE and other major indexes during the past two weeks the fear-factor has returned for investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped below the 12,900 mark at the beginning of last week, before rallying to just above 13,000 earlier yesterday, while the FTSE rose 0.45 percent, up at 6,078.7after slipping under 5,800 at one point in the previous week.

Meanwhile an increase in US home loan defaults has triggered concerns over a financial crisis, with the US Federal Reserve cutting the rate of overnight loans to banks to try and stall the recent spate of losses on Friday.

President and CEO of the Bermuda's BSX, Greg Wojciechowski, said that the Island's exchange offers a number of good opportunities to investors, especially in light of the current climate of the world stock market.

"In general, because it has a low data correlation to other markets, it is something we should always be mindful that there are opportunities here on the Bermuda Stock Exchange," he said.

"There are stocks here that have been listed and companies that are trading as public companies which are well run with a good track record and it is really interesting to see how they perform when there is significant turmoil in the other markets.

"We always encourage Bermudians and other investors not to overlook what is happening in Bermuda.

"It is all about making sure we can maximise our potential and it is by offering additional services and trading up to make the market more accessible to local investors that we do that."

The advantages are there for all to see, with market capitalisation growth more than doubling from $1,002.9 million in 1995 to $2,704.2m in 2006, representing a rise of 169.64 percent, while 10 years prior to 1995 the average annual traded value was $26.5m compared to a figure of $89m 12 years from 1995, again showing a growth of 235.85 percent.

Similarly, market share volume growth was also on the up, from 2.940m shares in 1995 to 3.875m last year and in contrast to the S&P 500 Index and MSCI World Index (excluding the US), market investment returns topped 19.81 percent as opposed to 11.08 percent and 7.41 percent for the other two indexes respectively.

Ten-year rolling average investment returns since the BSX's inception 1971 stood at 527.24 percent, with the S&P and MSCI indexes trailing behind at 267.55 percent and 268.27 percent respectively.

Furthermore, in terms of short-term investment, the figure for five-year returns was 231.91 percent for the BSX, comparing favourably to 156.60 percent and 162.87 percent for the S&P and MSCI indexes respectively, with capital raised by BSX listed insurers reaching $262.3m for initial public offerings, $167.9m for rights issues and $478m for introductions, while dividend reinvestment totalled $115m.

And the benefits to companies deciding whether to become listed on the BSX are many as well.

They would be able to enjoy alternative access to capital rather than using bank of institutional banking, with increased options for financing, enhanced corporate image and reputation, attractiveness to a broader investor base and better incentives for management and employees as well as improved share value, to name but a few.

Meanwhile the shareholder stands to reap the rewards from access to a regulated and licensed market in addition to critical shareholder protections, the ability to deal on any business day at will, access to an open price discovery mechanism and comfort in the knowledge share dealing is conducted in a transparent manner, with brokers operating on the market being properly regulated.

Jeff Conyers, CEO of investment specialists First Bermuda Group, said the beauty of the BSX is that it is driven by the thriving successful local economy on the Island.

"Fundamentally, we live on our own economy here in Bermuda - it is influenced by insurance companies and the money they bring in and spend in the local economy," he said.

"It is somehow quite divorced from the rest of the world and unless we lost a key player in the insurance or banking industry then the market wouldn't seriously slow down.

"The companies on the BSX are well run and they are really a very good investment for most people.

"I think that if you have invested in the local market over the last 30 years then you probably would have done quite well."

And he reckons it has consistently proven itself to be a safer bet for investors than some of the more volatile world markets.

"It tends not to get the same fluctuations as the world markets because it runs at a different level," he said.

"If you know you are investing in something you know and understand such as the BSX, then it is nine times better than giving to somewhere else, where you don't know what will happen with it.

"Basically the stock markets around the world tend to fluctuate and you have to match the good with the bad, but with an economy like Bermuda's, which has consistently done well and provided a good backdrop to many companies, it has consistently been a good model.

"I have always been bullish on Bermuda's stocks and I do believe it is a great investment vehicle."