and scope of interest that the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) is generating internationally.

Speaking in New York yesterday morning, BSX CEO William Woods said that ING Barings had applied to the Exchange to list a group of 19 Russian Depositary Trust certificates, an application which is now under consideration.

He said, "The equities of 19 Russian companies have been purchased by ING Barings and put into a trust structure. The trust issues certificates in respect to those shares, which are US dollar denominated and are cleared and settled in the international settlement system.

"It is a way for international institutional investors to invest in the Russian equities without having to go through the difficulties of buying Russian equities in Rubles and trying to get on the register.

"They are like an American Depositary Receipt (ADR), but legally it is a trust structure, as opposed to a depositary receipt. But they are actually pretty much the same thing.'' Mr. Woods flew back to Bermuda late yesterday, after making the remarks while participating in a briefing for financial journalists hosted by the Bermuda International Business Association (BIBA).

The delegation was quizzed on specific issues after presentations were made to update them on the growth of the Island's offshore market. Media enquiries included questions on how the BSX had managed to develop so quickly.

The briefing, held at the Harvard Club in Manhattan, included media representatives from 11 institutions, including the Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg News, Global Finance, National Underwriter and Fund Action.

Publications from China and Japan were also represented.

Finance Minister Grant Gibbons led the delegation and emerged from the morning meeting to say that the turnout of journalists was good and the local participants felt the meeting went well.

He said, "I wasn't surprised by any questions. In fact, it was all quite straightforward. One question dealt with the state of New York's move to amend legislation to allow the formation of captives. We were asked if it would make much of a difference to us.

"I said that there were already other states involved in captive formation, like Vermont and Hawaii. We've done extraordinarily well in what is a very difficult market, right now, and that is generating enormous interest.'' Media briefings have been held before in Hong Kong, London and New York to keep financial journalists informed about the developments in Bermuda.

BIBA chairman Tom Davis said, "We did a similar briefing for UK journalists in January and it's a very effective way of keeping in touch with the media.

The briefings are not aimed at generating immediate coverage of Bermuda. They are an investment in accurate reporting in a complex subject area.'' Also present for the meeting was Carl Musson, CEO of the Bermuda Land Development Co., who gave an extensive presentation on Bermuda's efforts to develop land vacated by military operations from the US, Canada and the UK.

Jan Spiering, chairman of the International Business Forum (IBF), talked about close working relationships between government and business, and about how the IBF works for the benefit of business development and Bermuda as a whole.

Mr. Spiering also commented on the development of a mutual funds market here and how in addition to the nearly 900 collective investment schemes, there were an additional 300 schemes that are administered in Bermuda, although domiciled and registered in other jurisdictions.

WILLIAM WOODS -- Took part in US briefing.