Three Bermuda-based staff face an uncertain future with the announcement yesterday that prestigious private banking firm Coutts & Co. will close its local office.

Coutts said it would wind down its Bermuda office - located in the Swan Building at 26 Victoria Street - within the next six months, as well as its operations in the Bahamas and Guernsey.

The closure of the local office was said to impact all staff: "Three staff in Bermuda will be affected by the office closure," the company said.

Director for Coutts offices in Bermuda, Bahamas and Caymans, Andrew Galloway told yesterday that he would be on the Island next week to "examine options" with local staff, who are listed on the company's website as executive director Michelle Wolfe, trust & fiduciary services new business, Judith Ansell and Peter Tonissoo, senior private banker.

Mr. Galloway, speaking from Coutts' Cayman office, did not rule out redundancies for its Bermuda-based staff but said "wherever possible, we will examine options".

He added that the decision to wind down the local office over the next six months was made in the interest of both its Bermuda staff and clients: "We are not closing our doors tomorrow," he said.

The news that Coutts would close three of its offshore offices was made at the same time as appointing Chris Burton as the new head for the group's network of offshore offices and was said to "illustrate our ongoing commitment to the offshore business".

However, the firm's offshore business will now be spread between fewer international offices with its Jersey, Isle of Man and Cayman offices becoming the company's "centre of excellence for trust and fiduciary services for the Coutts Group".

The company said in a Press statement that Coutts Offshore was being "reorganised to maximise efficiency and reduce duplication".

Coutts set up its Bermuda office in 1992 to offer offshore trust and fiduciary services to "super high net worth individuals from around the world".

Support for those services has been offered through Coutts' Cayman office which is a much larger operation with some 75 staff members.

Coutts is the private banking arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

In total the group reportedly manages the wealth of 75,000 high net worth clients through its offering of "sophisticated investment products together with expertise in trust and fiduciary services and UK tax and banking services". Coutts Offshore said it had ?2.5 billion in assets under management.