Top banker Philip Butterfield said Bermuda must pull up its socks when it comes to customer service, and should never be lulled into thinking pink sand and blue water are enough to secure its place as a leading business jurisdiction.

Speaking at the Financial Planning Association of Bermuda's winter lunch meeting, Mr. Butterfield said the bank was working internally to improve the level of customer service ? and called for the Island to do the same.

Mr. Butterfield admitted that the bank had some customer service issues, as did Bermuda.

Mr. Butterfield, 57, a Bermudian, has spent much of his adult life away from the Island having left to attend university at 19 followed by a 28-year career with banking giant Citibank. He was named to the bank's top spot last month after its $1.3 billion sale to multinational banking giant HSBC Plc closed.

He told the financial planning professionals gathered last week that coming back to Bermuda, after so many years away, had been a bit of a culture shock.

Mr. Butterfield told the story of how, just after moving back to Bermuda, he tried to get cable television service at his home. He said he was dismayed that no one from the cable company showed after he made a special trip home, much earlier in the afternoon than he normally would have, to meet the technician for the scheduled call.

He told the audience how, through a call to the company, he learned from a sales representative that the technician had been working on a job in St. George's and would have had to pass his home to get to Mr. Butterfield's house on Knapton Hill.

Apparently the technician felt it did not make sense at 3.30 in the afternoon to keep the appointment as it was too close to the 5 p.m. time he was set to finish work.

Mr. Butterfield said he was dismayed to be dealing with a sales representative who clearly did not "share the same values".

Telling the story to friends elicited a "welcome back, this is Bermuda response".

Mr. Butterfield said: "This does not have to be Bermuda. We do not have to accept this standard."

He added, that as a business jurisdiction, the Island must bear in mind that companies considering a move to Bermuda, or doing business here, do have choices.

"Pink sand and blue water does not mean we will win all of the bids. There is clearly work to be done," he said.

Mr. Butterfield also called for Bermudians to work together ? and resist being divided along political lines ? when addressing issues that faced the Island.

Mr. Butterfield said, during the period between the announcement of the bank's sale to HSBC last October and its closing last month, had been a learning experience.

"I learned more about the psychic, cultural profile of Bermudians", he said.

Mr. Butterfield said one of the biggest challenges for the Island was to "lower the level of partisanship in the political process" that keeps us from making important decisions for the good of the community.

"An incredible degree (of partisanship) exists in this community. We must communicate as openly and transparently as possible."

He said taking sides was such a feature of the Bermudian personality that "anything from one side will be disregarded by the other".

"This is ridiculous in my opinion," adding that in a community made up of about 60,000 people, taking sides could "preclude candid discourse to reach collective conclusion".

"We need to encourage candid conversation on matters that affect all of us.

"We need to learn to agree that we don't always have to agree. Mr. Butterfield said this was an attitude he had adopted in the workplace: "I have said to my colleagues that I do not show up (at work) to make friends, I show up to work. Sometimes we will disagree ? it does not have to be personal," he said.