The financial analyst sector in Bermuda will continue to grow into the next millennium, according to a senior investment management guru.

Thomas Bowman, the president of the Chartered Financial Analysts and Chief Executive Officer of the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR), told the Bermuda Society of Financial Analysts last week that projections for growth on the Island were good.

Bermuda currently has more financial analysts per capita than anywhere else is the world and Mr. Bowman said: "The Bermuda chapter of the CFA seems to be growing. There is a strong support not only for the organisation, but also for the CFA programme locally.

AMIR has grown six fold in ten years. In 1990 the international group had 10,000 members. This year it has 60,000. And where once members were mainly from the United States and Canada, the organisation is becoming more truly international with a growing presence in Asia, Africa and Europe.

"We project that by the year 2001 we will have 75,000 candidates for the CFA programme, which will be mirrored in our membership. We are growing particularly fast in Asia. Hong Kong, after New York is the second largest centre for us.'' In 1990 there were 51 societies or chapters in the US and eight in Canada. The only others were in Bermuda and Singapore.

This year, while there are 65 chapters in the US and 11 in Canada, there are others in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Mexico, London, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Sidney, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines. Mr. Bowman was in Bermuda to speak at the information evening for prospective CFA candidates held by the BSFA.

The CFA holds a programme of examinations for financial analysts each year at various levels.

The CFA designation, is recognised worldwide by investment professionals, on an education programme set by AMIR based on a specific body of investment knowledge.

In 1999 150 students in Bermuda wrote one of the three levels of examinations, and the pass rate for this year outstripped rival chapters around the world.

Over 70 members of the BSFA and financial analysts interested in enrolling in the examinations gathered at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club on Thursday to hear the talk and find out about the examinations.