Minister of Finance Eugene Cox has assured Bermudians that the latest exemption from the 60/40 ownership rule will not open the floodgates for all businesses to get a release.

And Mr. Cox hinted that more financial institution could get exemptions, but said ground rules will be put in place and that there was not a carte-blanche for all companies on the Island to get exemptions.

On Wednesday, Mr. Cox announced that First Bermuda Securities Ltd, which owns Bermuda Savings and Loan, had become the first financial institution that is not a bank to secure the exemption.

The company - and the three banks before it - will now be able to access more foreign capital without having to ensure that the firm is owned 60 percent by Bermudians or Bermudian companies.

"Funding for development is not too readily available and the opportunity to go overseas and have additional funding, which also spreads the risks around, is also good for Bermuda," he said. "That doesn't mean that the door is open for everybody."

Companies across the Island have welcomed the chance to apply for an exemption from the ownership rules which were designed to stop foreign companies coming in and taking over local firms.

But in an ever changing global market, Bermuda businesses have been clamouring for greater access to foreign capital and ways in which to spread the risk out-with the Island.

More conservative elements in Bermuda have argued that relaxing the rules will lead to small Bermuda companies being swallowed up by huge conglomerates.

But while allowing some slackening, Mr. Cox said he is not abandoning the idea of Bermudian ownership. He noted there needed to be changes in the best interest of Bermuda.

He said: "The idea of Bermudians maintaining control our founding fathers had and was in practice for a long time is a good one and it's proven it has been beneficial to Bermuda.

"And I think we won't just throw that out.

"We'll certainly want to consider and think about it as we go forward but there are going to be needs for changes and I think we want to be at the fore-front of these changes that are enhancing and improving Bermuda and are in Bermuda's best interests."

The debate over 60/40 really heated up three years ago when Bank of Bermuda said it wanted an exemption.

Despite several set-backs, it kept up the campaign, and in June 2000 Mr Cox said that the 60/40 ownership rule would be relaxed on the Island while in Paris at a conference hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Share prices in all the banks started to go up, and two and a half years after first applying for an exemption, Bermuda's largest bank was granted its wish in December 2000.

"This will enable us to compete on an equal footing with other global institutions all of which have unrestricted access to capital and to continue to share with Bermudians the opportunities and financial rewards that go hand-in-hand with a successful global operation, " said the bank's chief executive officer Henry Smith and chairman Eldon Trimingham after the announcement.

They were the first non-telecommunication's exemptions to be given out by the Ministry of Finance.

Then followed Bermuda's oldest bank's exemption - Bank of N.T. Butterfield - in April 2001. Their stock price followed that of Bank of Bermuda and shot up. And then Bermuda Commercial Bank followed in May.

But now a fourth financial services company has been granted its exemption.

First Bermuda Securities Ltd's chief executive officer and co-founder Jeff Conyers said it was critical for companies like his to get access to capital and be able to forge partnerships to stay profitable and keep ahead of the game.

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