If Bill Gates came to Bermuda to set up an e-business he could incorporate an exempt company and have everything ready to go - but would be turned away at the doors of Bank of Bermuda.

Because, according to the Government's E-commerce advisor Nigel Hickson, Bermuda's largest bank has a policy of not to accept banking services for online exempted companies. "The golden goose would come but we would not be able to keep it," he said. "We would turn it away at the door."

Mr. Hickson, speaking at a public forum held by the Bermuda International Business Association (BIBA) last night, said that for the Island to be a viable place to grow an e-commerce industry, banking services would have to offer accounts to online merchants. In the Green Paper on E-commerce, published in May, the business-to-business (B2B) payment system is recognised as a key hurdle which will have to be overcome to make Bermuda the destination of choice for e-business. And he said that while things were going in the right direction, key issues such as payment processing had to be addressed before the Island could offer a viable package. Speaking last night mainly to industry experts at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess, he said that Bermuda does not want to create an e-commerce business based on filling hosting racks with rubbish, but instead wants to go after business with Fortune 500 companies.