BERMUDA is being tarred with the same brush as other off-shore jurisdictions, being unjustly labelled a 'tax haven' and a target of the 'Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act'.

This is the view of the top lobbyist for Bermuda's insurance and reinsurance industry, who spoke to the Mid-Ocean News on the day of President Barack Obama's inauguration, following much media speculation of what the new US leader may have in store for the island's international business sector.

"There is no off-shore banking in Bermuda," Bradley Kading, president and executive director of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR), said.

"Bermuda is not a tax secrecy jurisdiction. There is complete transparency."

Mr. Kading and his team at ABIR are responsible for lobbying the US Government on behalf of 23 Bermuda insurance and reinsurance companies, including flagship firms ACE, XL, Axis, Renaissance Re and Partner Re. Along with the Association of Bermuda International Companies (ABIC), ABIR represents the interests of the island's key companies to powers that be in the US, including Congress and the Senate.

The island's alleged tax haven status was the subject of international media scrutiny again this week as Senator Carl Levin, along with fellow Democrat Byron Dorgan, released a Government Accountability Office report stating that 83 of the 100 largest publicly-traded companies in the US have 'tax-haven units' in places such as Bermuda.

This is the latest of many high-profile depictions of the island as a haven for 'tax dodgers', as Mr. Dorgan calls companies with subsidiaries in Bermuda, the Isle of Man, Liechtenstein and a handful of other jurisdictions.

President Obama has long indicated he would act to close Bermuda's so-called 'tax loophole' when elected. The island was caught in the crosshairs of the recent presidential campaign, when Obama's camp ran a television advert condemning rival Senator John McCain for pledging to protect American corporations based in Bermuda.

Against a backdrop of pink South Shore beaches, the Obama ad criticises McCain for meeting with Bermuda insurance CEOs, and for pledging support to companies that "hide their profits" in Bermuda.

"It's more than just a vacation destination for John McCain," the September 2008 ad said of the island.

"McCain went to Bermuda, and while he was there pledged to protect tax breaks for American corporations that hide their profits offshore. And grateful insurance company executives and their lobbyists who benefit from the tax scheme gave McCain $50,000. John McCain. He took a vacation, and so much more. And we get more of the same."

Obama was a co-sponsor of Carl Levin's 'Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act' in 2007, which mentions Bermuda by name as an "off-shore secrecy jurisdiction".

Mr. Kading maintains that the 'Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act' is "not an issue" for members of ABIR ¿ that is, Bermuda's major (re)insurance companies, all of them class 4, or highly regulated.

"It is not clear how the 'Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act' would affect Bermuda," he said.

He agreed that Bermuda is often tarred with the same brush as those jurisdictions operating as off-shore banking centres, such as the Cayman Islands.

"It's a huge problem," Mr. Kading said.

Bermuda and the Caymans are often described in the same breath by the international media; a recent article on tax loopholes in a Connecticut paper, for instance, described "the corporate scam of officially relocating one's headquarters abroad . . . say to the Cayman Islands or Bermuda".

Mr. Kading added that Bermuda is publicly recognised by both the US Treasury Department and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as a "co-operative jurisdiction".

He explained that, rather than any lobbying activity related to the 'Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act', his team at ABIR is working to represent the interests of his member companies ahead of two upcoming bills that could affect Bermuda's business sector.

"We're devoting all our time to factual responses, and working with business buyer's groups," he said.