The authors of the Global Financial Centres Index, which ranked Bermuda 25th in the world, have stood by the methodology of their research.

Cheryl Packwood, CEO of The Bermuda International Business Association, claimed the results are not accurate and that the survey is based on self-reporting rather than from a random sample.

But while Mark Yeandle, director of Z/Yen Group which compiled the report, admitted the research may not be wholly scientific, he said it is done using the most reputable sources and is based on the data received.

Last week reported the findings showed Hamilton had dropped eight places and lost 41 rating points.

Ms. Packwood said: "This index represents the biased and self-serving views of a group funded by The City of London, with whom Bermuda vigorously competes across a range of financial products and services. Rather than giving a report like this more credence by reporting it's findings as fact, it would be better to consider the source of the study and determine its motivations.

"One might be interested to know that the survey requires a voluntary response and therefore is not a fully representative sample of a broad base of respondents."

And she reckons Bermuda's reputation as a top financial centre is still held in high esteem by other members of the business community, despite sliding down the rankings.

"Having returned from a highly successful trip to New York two weeks ago at which members of Bermuda's international business community and government met with hundreds of financial community leaders in New York, we can say unequivocally that Bermuda's reputation and the substance of our international business far surpasses those of other offshore jurisdictions," she said.

"There is no doubt that Bermuda has work to do to maintain its leadership position in the international business world, but we are not behind Cayman in terms of S&P (Standard & Poor's) and Fitch ratings, nor our reputation nor the substance of business conducted in our jurisdiction.

"When reading this survey, Bermudians would be wise to remember the famous comment of Sir Winston Churchill, 'A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on'."

The Index provides ratings for financial centres calculated by a 'factor assessment model' built using two sets of input, including instrumental factors and financial centre assessments, Mr. Yeandle said.

The instrumental factors are drawn from external sources, for example, the infrastructure competitiveness for a financial centre is indicated by a cost of property survey and an occupancy costs index, while a fair and just business environment is indicated by ratings such as a corruption perception index and an opacity index.

Meanwhile, objective evidence of competitive factors has been sought in 54 instrumental factors drawn from a wide variety of sources, and while not all centres have data for all factors, the statistical model takes account of these gaps, according to Mr. Yeandle.

A total of 11,685 financial centre assessments were used, drawn from 825 respondents to an online questionnaire, with respondents assessing the competitiveness of financial centres which they knew and the questionnaire being ongoing to keep the Index up-to-date with people's changing assessments.

The 54 instrumental factors were selected to reflect the 14 competitiveness factors identified in previous research, taking into account a number of details such as the availability of skilled personnel, the regulatory environment, access to international financial markets and the availability of business infrastructure, to name but a few.

A number of guidelines were also set out to ensure that centre assessments and instrumental factors were chosen and used to generate a credible, dynamic rating of competitiveness for financial services institutions.

These include indices from a reputable body and derived from sound methodology, readily available data which is ideally regularly updated with relevant indices that can be added to the Index model at any time.

The individual guidelines for financial centre assessments by respondents, similarly features responses collected via an online questionnaire which runs continuously and the data included in the Index model for 36 months after they have been received.

"There are two main parts of the survey - we use 54 independent factors and they are third party sources (global property, office cost prices and world bank figures in regions of the various markets)," said Mr. Yeandle.

"We then go out and we have an open survey and have as many assessments from financial experts as people can give and they assess the financial centres they are familiar with.

"Obviously, there is a pre-ponderance of people from London and Europe because we have more contact with them considering where we are located.

"But part of the methodology is to remove the home bias in centres."

He admitted one of the downsides to the research was the lack of feedback from some centres.

"Yes, we accept that we don't have as many responses from some centres," he said.

"It would be great if more people in the financial centre in Bermuda would help by filling in the survey.

"As far as any sound methodology is concerned, it is very sound and the vast majority of it is based on 54 independent indices from other people.

"We believe they are very reputable sources."