A top government official has defended Bermuda's regulatory reputation in the wake of the international furore surrounding the Bermuda Fire & Marine court case.

Ministry of Finance assistant financial secretary Ifor Hughes lauded the Island's "high standards'' to an international audience of professionals attending the 1999 Bermuda Insurance Summit at the Southampton Princess.

But he made no mention of the controversy surrounding the current court battle which liquidators Ernst & Young began after insurer Bermuda Fire & Marine toppled in 1993 owing about $450 million to international creditors. See Page 17 Five of the collapsed company's former directors and a bevy of high-profile local professionals including accountants Coopers & Lines and law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman are defendants in the case expected to last six months.

Instead Mr. Hughes gave the impression scandal had never been allowed to rear its head in Bermuda's insurance industry -- despite the case hitting world headlines in recent weeks.

"I must emphasise Bermuda is not for everyone,'' he said in his keynote address to the conference. We are careful with whom we do business.

"We have deliberately placed ourselves at the high end of the market because being at the high end offers everyone involved protection from the negative constructions that are sometimes placed on international business.

"We believe that a country with high standards will attract businesses and businessmen with high standards.

"We do not cut corners. We do not want doubtful money.

"We do aim to live up to our responsibilities as good citizens in the global financial marketplace.'' He said Bermuda had grown into a "significant centre of global financial activity'' competing successfully against other much larger countries.

"It has achieved this by a commitment to excellence.

"That is excellence in terms of ...the creativity of its management of international business and in its determination to operating in partnership with its business partners in strict accordance with globally accepted standards.'' He said Bermuda's insurance industry had risen to such heights by "devising one of the most creative and advanced regulatory frameworks in the world''.

"Insurance companies want to come to Bermuda because they know that with us they will have among other things, freedom to write and price the coverage they sell with minimal regulatory interference.

"They cannot get that freedom anywhere else.''.

He also told the audience that Bermuda was now experiencing a boom in telecommunications.

And he said the international business sector had contributed $743 million to the local economy in 1997. Mr. Hughes was standing in for Finance Minister Eugene Cox whose schedule did not permit him to attend the inaugural Bermuda Insurance Summit.

BUSINESS BUC