Bermuda's expanding independent deposit companies were given the right yesterday to join the Island's three banks in dealing in foreign currency.

Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul said the measure had been recommended by the Bermuda Monetary Authority to assist deposit companies in doing business by allowing them to change customers' money into foreign currency -- such as US dollars -- without having to go through the three banks.

Dr. Saul noted deposit companies such as Gibbons Deposit Company and Bermuda Savings and Loan had become "big boys'' in banking in the past few years.

"We used to classify the banks as the only ones who could deal in foreign currency exchange,'' Dr. Saul noted. "But we have now extended the provision to deposit companies.'' He said the measure was generally supported in the banking sector.

"Some companies may be surprised,'' he said of the revised regulation, a notice of which was in the this week's Official Gazette. "Some have been asking for it.'' General manager of Somers Mortgage and Finance Mrs. Betty Brown said the measure did not really affect her company because Somers was already affiliated with the Bermuda Commercial Bank.

She noted Somers had not yet been advised of the measure.

"We knew Government was talking about it but we have not been advised of the change yet,'' she said. Independent deposit companies such as Gibbons, Bermuda Savings and Loan and Bermuda Home would be more affected, she said.

"But it (foreign currency exchange) is another vehicle of interest for us to explore,'' she added.

The Official Gazette notice, entitled the Exchange Control (Authorised Dealers) Notice 1995 stated: "The bodies specified below are authorised to act for the purposes of the Exchange Control Regulations 1973 as authorised dealers in relation to gold or any foreign currency.'' The bodies listed were: The Bank of Bermuda Limited, Bank of Butterfield, Bermuda Building Society, Bermuda Commercial Bank, Bermuda Home Limited, Bermuda Savings and Loan, Butterfield Mortgage and Finance, Gibbons Deposit Company, Somers Mortgage and Finance.

This is the latest in a series of moves made in the last years to ease exchange controls.