Shareholders of Bank of Bermuda stock yesterday got a windfall from the bank's listing on the NASDAQ, when the stock rose by $3.50 on the Bermuda Stock Exchange to $48.00, and continued to rise on the NASDAQ, closing at $48.55 on the first day of trade for the stock on a US market.

The rise in price means that a person with 100 Bank of Bermuda stocks on Monday evening would be $405 richer by the close of trade yesterday.

The roller-coaster trading of the stock, which saw huge volumes change hands for the first time in Bermuda's largest bank's history, was watched eagerly by shareholders on computer screens across the Island and updates broadcast on the radio news.

On Monday Bank of Bermuda management announced that the bank would finally list on the NASDAQ yesterday after five years of planning for the big day.

And on its first day of trading in the US, a huge volume of shares, 154,600 traded. Normally just several thousand are traded every day on the BSX, the bank's primary listing, where yesterday 6,388 stocks changed hands.

On Monday Bank of Bermuda made the surprise announcement that it was to list yesterday, as trading on the BSX was suspended before the announcement.

The bank, which is be a secondary listing on the NASDAQ, began trading under the ticker symbol BBDA. The bank has said it has no immediate plans to issue any more shares - so any trading will be existing shareholders selling their stocks.

Stocks in the bank are held in Shares of the stock are held in Bermuda by individuals, pension schemes and corporations. The share price was expected to go up dramatically when the bank eventually listed on the NASDAQ.

Bank of Bermuda, which yesterday become the first local Bermuda financial organisation to list on a foreign exchange, has also pledged commitment to Bermuda.

The bank's chief executive officer, Henry Smith, said: "We are first and foremost a Bermudian company with a firm commitment to the local community."

The NASDAQ listing is the culmination of five years' of work. The bank had been working on the listing for years before it got its exemption from the 60/40 ownership rules in December 2000.

These rules were to make sure that at least 60 percent of local companies were owned by locals or local organisations, but were not compatible with listing on a foreign exchange as there would be no way to track ownership on a global market.

The bank became the first financial organisation to get an exemption from the ownership rule and was closely followed by Bank of Butterfield and Bermuda Commercial Bank getting the same exemptions, but neither has stated any desire to list on NASDAQ in the near future.

Bank of Bermuda's exemption started the ball rolling for the NASDAQ listing and the bank has been working on compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission rules for over a year.

The bank said that with a listing on NASDAQ, Bank of Bermuda will be able to compete more effectively with other global financial institutions because it would be able to raise more capital.

Pre-opening trading on the NASDAQ started at $46.00 and within seconds of trading starting the price had jumped to $47.00 at 9.30 a.m. and 6 seconds (New York time).

But by 9.30 a.m. and 37 seconds it had dipped again to $46.05 as the markets tested the water with the new stock.

By 9.32 a.m. it had risen again to $47.75. From 9.30 a.m. the stock continues to yo-yo between $47.50 and $47.75, before jumping to $48.00 at 10.21 a.m. By 10.31 it had jumped to $48.50 before dipping back down to $48.05 by mid-day.

Trading slowed over lunch and the price stabilised between 12 noon and 3pm mainly staying at around the $48.00 mark.

It then rose to $48.75 on its peak during the day, falling off to $48.65 by 4.30 p.m. and by close of trade dipping to $48.55.

Overall the NASDAQ reported that the stock rose $1.55 or 3.3 percent, as it took the opening price at $47.00.