Last week was an awful week for me to write. Night after night I was riveted to the television watching programme after programme about 9-11. I couldn't seem to get enough. My writing for the first time in a long time had taken a back seat to the constant reminders of the tragedy that occurred last year.

I was at a loss for a topic to write about. Nothing I decided upon seemed relevant compared to the scale of 9-11. Everything else seemed so unimportant compared to that.

Then looking through the newspapers on 9-11, surprisingly looking for stories other than the 9-11 ones because I needed something else to focus upon to give me the inspiration to write, I came across the story about Brian Duperreault scolding Bermuda for allowing its name to be tainted by companies looking for a P.O. Box. Suddenly the light came on and I sat down to write about the timeliness of Duperreault's comments.

Duperreault is spot on when he says that we are allowing our reputation to be dragged through the mud because of the actions of companies who are looking for tax havens. We can take back our name by listening to good corporate citizens like ACE because after all ACE has a vested interest in the image Bermuda portrays because Bermuda is where ACE's home office is based. If the place where ACE is domiciled and its principal decision makers are located is no longer in good standing with the rest of the world, then it will ultimately suffer.

Stanley Works who was only interested in a brass plate address in Bermuda and other companies with brass plate offices here would never have this interest in Bermuda because they are only here for tax purposes.

The day to day running of the island is of no interest to these companies because they are not and never would be corporate citizens of our country. Their interests are still based in the countries where they operate. Therefore, they would never go to bat for our cause because it matters not to them. If our reputation were to fall into ruin, they would just move on to another jurisdiction that offered them similar tax advantages.

ACE on the other hand has as much to lose as we do. I take my hat off to Duperreault for having the guts to stand up in a public forum and offer what I believe is a sound solution to a problem that needs to go away if we are to preserve our reputation as a credible offshore jurisdiction. To some, the term credible offshore jurisdiction is an oxymoron but to those of us who understand the necessity for offshore jurisdictions when they are run correctly, we know otherwise.

The Bermuda government and all of its advisory boards related to international business need to take a serious look at the suggestion offered by Duperreault to this recurring problem. If we allow this propaganda to continue by allowing companies with no vested interest in Bermuda to set up here, we are in danger of scaring away companies who are interested in becoming good corporate citizens because they would not want to be singled out as tax evaders.

We have the Insurance Advisory Committee to look at what is happening in the industry and how best Bermuda should respond. The Insurance Admissions Committee who vets the companies that come here. And we have the infrastructure necessary to quickly update Insurance Acts whenever there is a new product or threat to the Island's credibility. Now more than ever all of these protective agencies of our insurance industry need to work together to look at how we can protect our image.

Demanding more of companies that want the benefits of a Bermuda address is not only a good idea, it is vital to preserving our image. We often say that we are not a tax haven yet we allow companies with no vested interest in our country to set up brass plate addresses here. In the current environment of corporate scandals and the threat of war, this practice is no longer acceptable. Bermuda must show that it is willing to take a step in the direction of eradicating this practice or at least minimizing it.

Why it has taken us this long to figure this out, I don't know. I guess that's why we need good corporate citizens like ACE in Bermuda because they have the power in the industry to keep their ears to the ground and can hear the rumblings well before bureaucrats can. Therefore good corporate citizens like ACE can offer us solutions we may not have otherwise thought about because of the well connected resources they have. That's also the beauty of Bermuda because of the partnership between the government and the international insurance industry, issues like these can be resolved very quickly if the two sides work together to find resolutions.

I encourage the industry and the necessary protective agencies to talk about ways we can institute controls to hold companies that wish to operate in Bermuda more accountable to the island. As a word of caution though, I suggest that all sides bear in mind the thin line between being a friendly and a hostile jurisdiction before jumping to hasty decisions. In looking at these measures, all parties must be cognizant of the fact that we don't want to become a hostile jurisdiction to international business and therefore they should not try to enact draconian changes to the way international companies are allowed to operate on the Island. Rather the measures taken must be well thought out with all possible consequences of the changes understood by all parties. That way, all companies know what their responsibilities are to the island when they apply and ultimately they will always have a vested interest here.

More importantly, Bermuda can then truly say to the world we are not a tax haven.

We are a country that believes in partnering with the international business sector to assist them to become good corporate citizens to our island which will ultimately allow them to become efficient participants in our global economy. Bravo to Duperreault. Keep up the good work.

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Cathy Duffy is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and is now a freelance writer. She is a former executive of Zurich Global Energy and has 15 years experience in the insurance industry. She writes on insurance issues in The Royal Gazette every Monday. Feedback crduffy@cwbda.bm