David Fox The Bank of Bermuda has opened a new office in Bahrain, is expanding its activity in Singapore and, coming off a record year of earnings, is well-positioned for future development and growth in core businesses in various jurisdictions.

The bank's executive vice president, retail banking & administration, Barry L.

Shailer, said, "The geographic spread is expanding and obviously Singapore and Bahrain are good examples of that. Expect to see more of that as our business grows.'' The bank said yesterday licences for representative offices had been obtained from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Bahrain Monetary Authority.

The Bahrain office was opened earlier this month, but the Singapore operation will be expanded from the Bermuda Trust (Singapore) Ltd., already active in servicing the unit trust, mutual fund and pension fund industry.

The trust company was started in 1993 and already has some 80 percent of Singapore's corporate trust market.

The bank expects to use the new representative licences to promote other business, such as private trust and private banking, together with other institutional trust services that include cash management and treasury.

The Bahrain initiative signals the intention of the bank to develop more Middle East business, and comes after 18 months of research by the bank's London office.

President and CEO of the bank, Henry Smith, said, "We hope to tap the high net worth individual and corporate markets in the Middle East.'' Luis A. Douglas, senior executive vice president, corporate clients, conceded, "Bahrain is strictly a private client initiative of the bank. We have been travelling to the Middle East for a number of years, looking to see what would be the best way to try to make inroads in that market.

"It is private client business we seek. There is a lot of wealth being created in the Middle East. That's what the bank is about: providing services to this growing wealth that is being created worldwide -- South America, Middle East, the Far East, India. There is a lot of liquidity in the world and in many ways, unless we position ourselves at this time of growth, the world could pass us by.

"So we are very much in a growth mode and before the financial year end, there will be more exciting news involving the bank and its growth.'' The bank has zeroed in on the business of the safe-keeping, the growth and the eventual transfer to heirs of the wealth of high net worth individuals.

Senior vice president, private client services, Karen M. Malcolm, is responsible for the bank's trust business on an international basis. It is a key area the bank feels will grow rapidly.

She said, "About ten months ago, the bank was structured along very functional lines. One of Henry's (Smith) very important moves was the re-focusing of the bank on its clients, looking at the two major groups of business in the past and the future.

"They are the corporate clients and the private, wealthy individuals. The restructuring over the last month or two involved the creation of a more integrated approach to the private client business to make us more efficient.

"We are still in the process of doing that. The three elements are trust, banking and investment activity, all being services for our private clients.

We have private clients who come to us for banking services or investment services and that relationship would grow into a trust relationship as they plan for the next generation or the generation after that of their family.'' Mr. Douglas said, "A principal service the bank needs to provide is investment products. This is where out sourcing comes into play in that we will be looking to third parties to help us create the types of investment products our clients are looking for.

"In a way, it is a new strategy, because in the past we were looking to create a lot of these products ourselves. In my view, it was somewhat unrealistic, because you can't always do everything yourself.'' BARRY SHAILER: "The geographic spread is expanding.'' HENRY SMITH: "We hope to tap. . . the Middle East.''