In the last two years, a crop of securities and brokerage firms have burst forth into the Bermuda marketplace.

High profile First Bermuda Securities (FBS) started business in one small room in the Continental Building two years ago, and immediately their phones started to ring, said the company's indefatigable president Mr. Jeff Conyers.

Other newcomers include Lines Overseas Management (LOM), Bermuda Investment Advisory Services, Emerald Finance, and Kast Investment Management.

The opening of Gulf Stream Securities, headed up by former FBS stockbroker Ms Carolyn Hall, and assisted by Mr. Bob Richards, prove there is room for more competitors.

Each "independent'' has a different focus, sells different products, and adopt varying approaches to business.

Some, like Anne Kast focus on a select set of funds, while FBS is ambitiously setting out to be a full securities firm, "a grandiose term for Bermuda'', said Mr. Conyers.

FBS focuses on corporate finance: "trying to help businesses look at their capital and equity needs'', said Mr. Conyers, who wholeheartedly adopts an opportunistic approach to new business.

"We are currently looking at corporate finance ideas for the insurance industry in Bermuda, and considering retaining an analyst to write reports on the sector,'' he said.

LOM, understood to be larger than its peers in terms of capital and assets, manages money on a "managed account'' basis, which means the client sees all trades done in their account, and the gain or loss on each trade, in addition to the gain or loss on the overall portfolio.

LOM does this on a top down global allocation basis with stock and bond accounts. The minimum size of the equity accounts is US $100,000, and the bond accounts is US $500,000. However, smaller accounts than this have been taken from local clients.

The company is 40 percent owned by brothers Mr. Brian Lines, LOM president, and Mr. Scott Lines, managing director. The remaining 60 percent is held by six institutional shareholders. The company is 70 percent owned by Bermudian individuals or companies.

In the future, LOM will be introducing a mutual fund that will trade in the international markets, seeking high capital gains through both long and short leveraged positions.

LOM, which began operating in March 1993, currently employs seven staff, and will employ a further two soon. Four are brokers.

Although the Bermuda dollar market accounts for less than five percent of LOM's revenues, Mr. Lines said his company constantly offers advice to clients on local securities and firms.

LOM partly owns and brokers for Strategic Advisors Overseas, which manages individual offshore gold accounts.

Ms Hall of Gulf Stream believes that since the "independents'' began operations, liquidity in the market has undeniably increased.

"The focus in Bermuda has been on real estate, and not securities,'' said Mr.

Conyers. "This is not a highly liquid marketplace, but we will see more initial public offerings, and more trading on the Exchange.'' And thanks to the initiative of these companies, The Bermuda Stock Exchange began daily trading.

"The independents were conducting trading daily through verbal communications, followed up with records, so inevitably the Exchange had to follow,'' said Ms Hall.

Mr. Richards, a board director of Gulf Stream, is also president of Bermuda Asset Management. He will assist the new securities firm in recommending stocks.

Mr. Richards, still on the board at the Bermuda Monetary Authority, will act as a discretionary portfolio manager.

"Bob can manage over $500,000 for individuals or institutions,'' Ms Hall said.

Currently, her clients are predominately interested in investing New York and Bermuda stock.

"Ninety-eight percent of my clients are local residents, so if they are Bermuda dollar for exchange control purposes, it is likely they are buying on the local stock market.

"It will be interesting to see where money will go if there are changes in exchange control,'' said Ms Hall.

"The timing is more favourable now because interest rates locally are higher than overseas, so people may be inclined to keep their currency in Bermuda dollars, and there shouldn't be a massive flight of currency.

"Twelve years ago, when US interest rates were double digit, it would have been a more painful change over.

"Someone with a few hundred dollars can buy a specific stock. They are not losing by not being diversified, because diversification is not available in Bermuda -- there are so few stocks here to begin with,'' said Ms Hall.

Securities doing well in Bermuda From Page 12 Mr. Michael Schroter, vice president at FBS, responsible for corporate finance, is spreading the message to closely-held family companies, that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of going public.

"We need the well-established families to lead the way,'' he said. "The public offerings are very much a necessity, more than a luxury, needed to generate long term capital for business, and possible assist with business restructuring,'' he said.

Local mergers and acquisitions are also in the pipeline.

"In UK, I was involved in strategic planning for small to medium-sized companies. This is just evolving in Bermuda,'' said Mr. Schroter.

FBS is said to be the largest operation in terms of staff -- currently at 15.

FBS currently has five brokers, but intends to lift this number to between seven and 10 in the next year.

It offers a wide range of services including securities brokerage, trading, money market investments, corporate finance and financial planning services.

Ms Carolyn Hall: head of Gulf Stream Securities believes that since "independents'' began operations, liquidity in the market has undeniably increased. Her clients are mainly interested in investing New York and Bermuda stock.

Mr. Jeff Conyers.