Bank of Bermuda's top management will go on a road show to speak to the investment community in the United States before the end of the year, according to Henry Smith, the bank's chief executive officer.

The bank has been talking about going on a road show since it launched on the Nasdaq in April, 2002 to tout the stock as a good buy - but has put off a trip time and time again.

Yesterday Mr. Smith, on a pre-recorded call for analysts following the bank's third quarter results, pledged to take the bank on a tour by the end of 2003.

"I would like to confirm that it is still our intention to engage more directly with the investment community, particularly in the US, through a series of road show presentations," he said. "We would prefer to do this with a full management team, however, and, unfortunately, our chief financial officer's (Ed Gomez) recovery from surgery has taken rather longer than anticipated. We hope he will be back with us soon so that we can schedule a US visit before year end."

In October last year Mr. Smith and other management said during a conference call with analysts following that year's third quarter results that the bank wanted to go on a road show to tout its shares to investors, but would not not be putting forward an offering.

At the time management said they would not be making projections on the company's earnings until the bank was followed more closely and research is published on them.

And in the conference call for the following quarter, held in January, 2003, Mr. Smith responded to a question that few investment analysts are aware of the Nasdaq listing and said the bank was planning a road show this year.

"We're conscious that we have to ramp that up,'' Mr. Smith said. "And certainly over the next quarter to six months, we do plan on getting out and talking to both analysts and investors. We do believe we're a bit of a unique organisation. And that is all the more reason for us to get a chance to sit down in front of our investors and explain what we think we are and where we think we are going.''

Then in early July this year Mr. Smith said the bank would not be taking its shares on a road show in the US until the markets improved.

He said that there was no point of the bank going on a road show without an offering - and they would not do an offering until the stock markets had turned around.

When asked about the move, Mr. Smith said: "It is a little tricky, but what we have done is we have started making contacts, visiting selectively with buyers and analysts in the States.

"But we have been reluctant to do a full road show because while we did the listing, we actually never did an offering with it."

Two weeks later Mr. Smith apologised to investment analysts and investors for not having made a trip to meet with them since the company listed during the company's second quarter conference call.

He told investment analysts and investors that he and other senior management had been remiss in not making the trip earlier: "We have been a bit negligent. We need to get out to people and we should have responded more quickly..."

But the bank's investor relations department yesterday stressed that a trip by bank management to meet with investors would be a "relationship building" exercise rather than a full-fledged road show as would happen if the bank was doing a stock offering.

Mr. Smith told callers at the time that the trip probably would not take place until Mr. Gomez, was released from hospital where he is currently recovering from back surgery.