the Bank of Bermuda `Millennium' warrants.

The move was taken to allow for proper settlement of all outstanding trades prior to the expiry of the Warrants on Monday, 31 January 2000. Bank of Bermuda `Millennium' warrants were issued five and a half years ago and will expire at the end of this month.

They were issued in August 1994 and are similar to a stock option. They gave the holder the right to buy another common share at a fixed price, $25, between December 31, 1996 and 3pm on January 31, 2000.

Common shares in Bank of Bermuda closed at $28.00 yesterday, while no warrants changed hands. The final bid price was $4.50 and the asking price $6.00.

Transfers of the warrants be accepted until 3 p.m. on January 31. The Bank of Bermuda warrants originally went on the market at $2.25, when common shares were trading between $18 and $20. Since their release, prices for the warrants have fluctuated wildly, from an all time low of 75 cents in 1996 to rise two years later to an all time high of $16.25.

At the time the warrants were expected to raise at least $20 million in new capital. The money was to be used internationally in establishing operation in Dublin as well as the financing of the purchase of Standard Chartered Equitor Group institutional and private trust business in Europe and the Far East bought in 1994.

In the last year the highest price for the warrants was $10, the lowest $4.00.

For the first two years the Bank of Bermuda warrants traded for between $2.00 and $3.50, plummeting 62 percent in November 1996 to close at 75 cents.

But the market once again became buoyant and by September 1997 Bank of Bermuda warrants had risen to $5, closing that year at $5.50.

From there the stock prices continued to rise, in January to $6.88 and then roared ahead 63 percent to $13 in February as investors anticipated further gains in the stock. By March they were worth $14 -- an all time high.

Prices began slipping in April 1998 to $12, but rose again to a record price of $16.25. But the volatile market pushed prices down and stock fell to $10 by July 1998, and closed the year at $9.00. By April 1999 the warrants traded for $6.00, ad then $7.00 in December.