The Bank of NT Butterfield & Son is to shortly announce its sixth e-commerce joint venture, according to the Bank's president and chief executive officer.

Calum Johnston revealed that the company is looking at another partnership which will soon be signed, sealed and delivered.

"We have another e-commerce joint venture which will be announced within another two weeks,'' Mr. Johnston told The Royal Gazette .

Last week the Bank announced a joint venture had been formed to provide local and international merchants with e-commerce payment solutions.

Promisant Ltd. was created by the Bank of Butterfield and Bermuda-based e-commerce payment provider Coral Capital Ltd.

This brought the number of e-commerce ventures with the Bank up to five. The Bank, however is staying tight lipped until the latest deal is completed.

"I cannot give out any more information at the moment,'' said Mr. Johnston.

The bank has been facing up to the technological advances of the past few years and has been actively pursuing e-commerce ventures. The latest one would take the number of e-commerce initiates up to six, and Mr. Johnston hinted that there could be more in the pipeline.

"Many of them are joint ventures,'' he said. "We are looking to recruit the best partners to use the best brain power and get the best of the breed in all these various areas.'' The Bank has been undergoing huge changes in the last two years, including technological advances and the figures for the company have been going up.

Last month the bank announced record half year earnings of $19.18 million, up 7.77 percent on the same period last year.

Net income per share for the same six months rose by 11.8 percent or 11 cents to $1.04 cents.

In August last year the bank reported "all-time-high'' earnings of $36.4 million.

Last week after the last joint venture announcement Coral Capital's President and Chief Operating Officer Peter Durhager said: "Promisant was created to take advantage of the huge opportunity that exists, both locally and internationally, in the e-commerce payment processing industry.'' Bank of Butterfield in its sixth e-commerce venture The two companies formed the relationship to provide a seamless process for companies wishing to establish an offshore presence to facilitate electronic transactions via the Internet.

The bank will be providing merchant accounts for business clients to receive on-line payments that are processed through Promisant's integrated payment solution.

Mr. Johnston said at the time: "This is another fine example of how Bank of Butterfield continues to be in the forefront, providing our customers with a product that is well founded, and which delivers an innovative e-commerce solution on an international scale.

"Bank of Butterfield to date has been very quietly developing its strategy to ensure that future service offerings are both competitive and relevant in the digital economy.'' Both companies were tight lipped yesterday about the actual business solution in advance of further specific announcements on alliances and specific services.

Mr. Durhager said: "There has been a tremendous amount of hype about Bermuda's e-commerce opportunity, but very little action has been taken thus far.

"For the most part this has been largely due to vast amounts of conflicting information that has caused confusion for e-businesses looking to set up in Bermuda.

"Promisant will change that by making the process hassle-free and cost effective, the way the Internet is supposed to be.'' Hot for e-commerce: Bank of Butterfield chief Calum Johnston says the Bank `is looking to recruit the best partners to use the best brain power'.