Four Bank of Bermuda mutual funds have won Micropal Investment Performance Awards, the bank said yesterday.

London-headquartered Micropal is the only global provider of mutual fund data.

The annual awards are based on over 5,000 offshore funds.

"The awards are recognised worldwide as the official standard by which managers and management groups are measured,'' the bank said.

As well as performance, Micropal highlights the fund and management group that typically show limited volatility relative to their peers while maintaining gradually rising performance, the bank said.

The award winning funds are; The pound sterling fund, one of the Bermuda money funds, won first place in a field of 70 funds in the Micropal three-year offshore territories UK pound money market sector.

German equity geared, one of the global manager funds, won first place in the one-year offshore territories Germany equity sector out of 40 funds.

International ECU, one of the Bermuda bond funds, won third in the five-year offshore territories global fixed income sector out of 70 funds.

US equity geared, a global manager fund, won third place in the one year offshore territories US sector out of 128 funds.

The bank also cited three funds receiving high performance-based rankings.

Award-winning funds are based on risk adjusted returns, a review of performance related to volatility.

The pacific rim Bermuda equity fund ranked first out of 134 funds over a three-year period.

The international GBP Bermuda bond fund ranked sixth out of 159 funds over five years.

The HK equity geared global manager fund ranked ninth out of 38 funds over a one-year period.

The Bank of Bermuda has four umbrellas funds comprising about 45 funds total.

Bermuda Funds, the bank's family of mutual funds has assets under management in excess of $1.2 billion.

AWARDS AWD