As moves by the Dutch authorities to extradite former Bermuda Commercial Bank (BCB) chairman John Deuss continue, the Bank announced yesterday that it was in talks with a number of potential purchasers.

The Bermuda Stock Exchange yesterday suspended trading in Bermuda Commercial Bank and Bermuda Commercial Bank Warrants, pending an announcement from the Bank but trading is expected to resume this morning at 10 a.m.

The announcement said the Bank's board of directors is in discussions with a number of banks who have been identified as potential purchasers.

The identities of these potential purchasers were not disclosed in the announcement and the statement did not say if the purchasers were interested in FCIB's 47 percent stake in BCB or all of the Bank's shares.

The Bank also said again that BCB's commercial activities in Bermuda were unaffected by the investigation of First Curacao International Bank (FCIB) in Curacao.

The announcement said: "John Deuss' position with respect to moves by the Dutch authorities has no impact on BCB and its ability to provide services.

"Furthermore, the FCIB clients currently under investigation by the Dutch authorities have no relationships or affiliation with BCB."

The Dutch businessman permanently resigned from the board of BCB two weeks ago, along with his sister Tineke, a director and president Timothy Ulrich following an investigation by Dutch authorities into alleged money laundering activities of FCIB.

BCB sought to assure its shareholders, depositors and customers, that the Bank's highly liquid balance sheet is sound and BCB continues to be "very much in business".

The statement from the Bank said: "BCB has not been implicated in any way by the events surrounding FCIB and BCB has entirely separate lines of business from BCB."

BCB reported it had net income of $5.17 million for the financial year ending September 30, 2005, an increase of $2.41 million, or 87.3 percent over 2004.

Total assets were $858.82 million, an increase of 46.5 percent or $272.44 million over the prior year.

Before yesterday's trading suspension, BCB's shares were trading at $7.55 per share, giving the bank a market capitalisation of $32.3 million. FCIB's stake would be worth $15.2 million at that price.