Bermuda sees opportunities to leverage its advantage over other jurisdictions in its regulatory and legislative framework to attract more business from Asia.

That is the view of Susan Stirling, director of marketing for Business Bermuda, who has been promoting the Island's strengths as a financial centre over the past two weeks.

Ms Stirling, accompanied by P. Jeyaratnam, Business Bermuda's new Asian market representative, attended the Super Return Asia Conference in Hong Kong from September 27 to 30, and the TechVenture 2010 Conference in Singapore on October 6 and 7. The pair also held additional meetings with key organisations including the Singapore Mercantile Exchange.

"Although in the past, both Cayman and particularly the British Virgin Islands, have been aggressive in these regions, a substantially altered economic climate has forced people to re-examine their approach to business, transparency and regulation," Ms Stirling said.

"This has provided a unique opportunity for Bermuda to attract new business based on its superior regulatory and legislative approach.

"Our timing has been excellent for a Singapore-based representative in the region and to continue the efforts we started in the Spring 2010. As many people have said, Asia is fuelling growth around the globe and it's important for Bermuda here to be active and effective in order to ensure long-term growth and success."

With the leaders of the larger economies pressing offshore financial centres to raise their standards of regulation and transparency, Bermuda forged a step ahead of some rival domiciles with the publication of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development Peer Review Group paper last month.

The report found that the Island had all elements of regulatory and legal infrastructure in place to achieve the international standard of transparency on taxation matters, but made several recommendations for improvements. The report on the Cayman Islands, another one of the first eight jurisdictions to be assessed, found the Caribbean territory's legal framework did not meet the international standards for accounting information.

Super Return Asia 2010 is widely regarded as Asia's leading private venture capital and equity conference with more than 200 limited partners in attendance with more than 700 speakers and delegates in all.

"We are very excited about the opportunity to take Bermuda's international message into the Hong Kong market," said Mr. Jeyaratnam.

"We have significant experience and contacts in the region that have enabled us to present Bermuda's benefits to many potential sources of business.

"Reputation and integrity are integral to doing business in this region and Bermuda's recognition as a leading offshore jurisdiction, underpinned by its strong regulatory and legal system, strong infrastructure, will enable us to make significant inroads into what is proving to be a market with a strong appetite for offshore incorporation and registration.

"Super Return Asia proved to be a wonderful premier event to network and build relationships with people who were very interested in the Bermuda story."