of the market, according to a speaker at the Globalisation of Mutual Funds.

Gareth Thompson of Investia Ltd. of London spoke about the Internet to delegates at the Fairmont Southampton Princess on the last day of the seminar.

He told the more than 400 delegates from 28 countries attending the three-day conference: "Bricks and clicks will triumph. Internet-only players will be squeezed out.'' Mr. Thompson was speaking as part of a panel of four panelists yesterday who held a session entitled "Promotion of Funds and Dealings on the Internet -- A Comparative Analysis of Risks and Rewards''.

Other subjects covered by the panel included servicing cross-border clients and new business, "knowing your customer'' requirements, managing risk and providing security and shareholder use of the Internet.

One of the hot topics of conversation during the event was "fund supermarkets'', which means that investors are moving away from brands, but want to know who the best funds are in a peer group.

Fund supermarkets were discussed by the keynote speaker, Kurt Cerulli, a widely acclaimed fund industry analyst in market trends and the principal of Cerulli Associates, who predicted that in the next three to five years 40 percent of net funds inflows in Europe will come through supermarkets.

Other hot topics included tax developments in the offshore markets.

Peter Rodger, vice president at the Bank of Butterfield and key member of the organising committee of Globalisation of Mutual Funds, hailed the conference as a success.

He said: "It has gone very well. It is our twelfth year, and now it is widely known in the industry. It is not known as "Globalisation of Mutual Funds'' by those in the know but they now simply say "will you be at `Bermuda'? "It is well known in the fund industry and we have had some very good speakers and panelists this year.

"We had a very good session on the use of mutual funds for funding pension funds.'' Mutual funds conference He said of great interest was companies moving from defined benefit to defined contribution plans, which appeared to be a global trend.

Another panel on exchange traded funds was chaired by Kathleen Moriary, known in the business as "spider woman'' for her work with SPDR (known as spider), one most popular exchange traded funds.

She is a partner in Carter Ledyard & Milburn of New York, and spoke on the impact of exchange traded funds on the industry.

Exchange traded funds are becoming more and more popular and are a group of funds which look like mutual funds, but are in fact a basket of funds from a particular index.

Out of the 400 delegates about 60 or 70 were from Bermuda -- almost every person on the Island who deals with mutual funds.

In the audience was Minister of Home Affairs Paula Cox as well as representatives from Deloitte and Touche, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCooper, the three banks as well as members of the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

Mr. Rodger said: "It is an unparalleled opportunity for local businesses to meet and speak with the leaders from all over the world.'' ends