not given up, and alternative steps were now being taken to pursue official support for the scheme.

Andre Heyliger of Top Resources Ltd. is still waiting to review the report from the Joint Select Committee on Private Bills which reportedly refused to support the plan.

That report may go to Parliament today. The public would then have an opportunity to learn exactly what the committee members views were on the subject of a fourth Bermuda bank, after a long standing moratorium on new banks. "There are alternative avenues to pursue,'' Mr. Heyliger said. "We are right now putting our strategy together to pursue those alternatives.

"While we have heard of the view of the committee, we haven't seen anything officially. We haven't seen the report. As part of our overall plan going forward, we need to know exactly what the thinking of the committee members is.'' Mr. Heyliger said his lawyers, Diel & Myers, would likely obtain a copy of the report for the group's perusal, as soon as possible. He said that there was growing support in Bermuda for the establishment of "The Citzens' Bank of Bermuda.'' And it was expected that the group would have to fight long and hard for the right to get the plan off the ground.

But he said, "We're prepared to go to the mat. The support is there. Last fall, we delivered more than 2,000 signatures of people supporting our efforts to the Speaker of the House.

"We obtained those signatures through word of mouth. There was no real machinery to get that done. They represented people who were sufficiently involved and in support to know that a new banking entity in Bermuda will make a difference to Bermudians in the way they can participate, and the opportunities that come out of that participation.''