financial regulations.

The move is part of Britain's White Paper rewrite of relations with the colonies -- which, in addition to offering full UK citizenship, called for independent reviews of Overseas Territories policing of high finance. New junior Foreign Office Minister for the Overseas Territories, Baroness Liz Scotland said: "I'm pleased that the territories have given their whole-hearted support to this review.

It demonstrates the value they place on well-regulated financial centres and our commitment to working in partnership with them in order to meet accepted international standards of regulation.'' The review -- likely to be finished by June next year -- is part of the UK goal to clamp down on abuses in offshore financial centres.

The process -- jointly commissioned by the UK and the Territories -- will cover banking, the insurance and securities sectors, companies and trusts, independent regulatory authorities, international co-operation and money laundering.

Other UK Overseas Territories taking part in individual reviews are the Caribbean's Caymans, British Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Montserrat. Financial Secretary Peter Hardy will sit on the steering committee which will select the organisation or individual to carry out the review.