losses of $2.10 per share are expected for the second quarter due to "catastrophic storms that took place in 1999''.

The company said that losses from the storms that struck Europe in December 1999, together with losses from Hurricanes Floyd and Lenny and Typhoon Bart, increased by approximately $40 million during the second quarter of 2000 and will result in a net loss of approximately $23.5 million or $2.10 per share for the period.

Wall Street analysts had predicted a gain of 24 cents per share after PXRE second quarter results in 1999 showed net income of $5.0 million or $0.44 per share.

The Company expects to release its second quarter results on August 2, 2000.

BANK INVESTS $7.8M BUC Bank invests $7.8m The Bank of Bermuda has invested a further $7.8 million in First Ecom.com Inc., an online credit card processor for merchants and banks.

The bank exercised warrants for an additional one million shares of First Ecom.com stock following its initial investment of $6.5 million in November of last year.

The cash injection by the bank should help First Ecom.com provide payment processing services to banks and their mercahants, according to company president and CEO Harold Hutton.

The company believes outsourcing of payment processing will become a "viable alternative'' for banks.

Alan Richardson, executive vice president for retail clients at the Bank of Bermuda said: "Outsourcing is the most feasible option for banks to immediately support the growing number of e-commerce merchants worldwide.'' APW LISTED IN INDEX BUC APW listed in index APW Ltd. a Bermuda-based integrated electronics company, has been listed on the Standard and Poor SmallCap 600 Index.

APW provide design services and manufacturing of integrated electronic enclosure systems to the communications, computing and Internet markets. The company have been listed in the Electrical Equipment industry category of the S&P Index.

According to a release from S&P, the fact that APW is based in Bermuda weighed very favourably in the decision to offer the company a listing.

XNET OPENS CENTRE BUC IXnet opens centre IXnet Inc., a subsidiary of Bermuda-based Global Crossing, opened the doors to a newly-expanded network management centre for the Asia /Pacific region on Tuesday. IXnet provides communications services for financial services firms.

In addition to the upgraded centre, backbone network facilities are being upgraded throughout the region, including the installation of new equipment in Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore and Honh Kong and increased capacity between those cities.

IXnet and its sister company IPC merged with Global Crossing last month.