Bermuda is now the business leader among the overseas territories, says Premier Jennifer Smith.

And she said Bermuda would meet and exceed international demands for financial standards and regulation.

She said that during last week's Overseas Territories Consultative Council talks, hosted by British Government junior Foreign Minister Baroness Scotland, the Island had edged out competition from the Caymans to be top dog.

Ms. Smith said: "I am very pleased to report that Bermuda was called the leader in financial area.

"Last year it was very much a toss up between Cayman and Bermuda. I wasn't happy with that situation but that's how it was. This year it was clearly Bermuda.

"I was very pleased to be asked to lead the discussion on international financial affairs -- Bermuda is now considered the leader among the overseas territories.

"And except for the KPMG report which is being released later on, which is the FCO report, we have results on some of them and Bermuda has done relatively well. We are pleased with it but it is an ongoing process, it hasn't stopped yet.

"We have given an undertaking to all those parties concerned that, as a leader in financial services, we expect to meet and in some case lead those international standards because our success depends on our reputation.

"We were able to talk about what we had done with the OECD and how we had worked with EU and UN initiatives.

"Quite frankly Bermuda had benefit of some very expert legal and financial advice from our international private sector as advisors. Because of that help at that level we were able to respond in a timely manner to a lot of these initiatives.

"Many countries had felt overburdened by the timing of the response required and quite frankly can't meet it because they don't have the staff and are burdened financially to meet those timetables.

"Bermuda has been able to meet the timetables because we had a combination of public and private sector.

"The Ministry of Finance had help from ACE, XL and American International and they were able to call on anyone else they needed so it has been very important to us to have their advice and opportunity to use world class minds available to the Government.

"We made that point at the conference that other countries might want to do something like that.

"In other instances the Treasury offered to help because they recognised it was onerous for many of the overseas territories.'' Citizenship faces delays She said the two-day workshop had led to a useful swapping of notes on how to tackle common problems.

"We discussed nationality and I gave a copy of the Green Paper on long term residents to them,'' said Ms. Smith. "On areas like sustainable development Bermuda has lots to report. I gave them copies of report on the conference at the Bio Station earlier this year on alternative energy.

Yesterday The Royal Gazette revealed that some islands had called for the powers of Governors to be diminished in favour of increased local rule. Ms Smith said: "I don't think there is any more reduction of the Governor's power that can be given without going to full Independence. We are at the highest level for that.

"Right now, the Governor only retains powers for internal security and external. He deals with Police and the Regiment. In other areas it is all delegated.'' At the London talks, Baroness Scotland had said Governors would be given more training before being given their assignments.

Ms Smith said yesterday that Anguilla has already benefited from a Governor who had been given extra training.

She added: "Bermuda will be getting a new Governor next year and that will be a result again of this new process.'' But there could be delays in the UK's offer of citizenship, Ms Smith said.

She said that at last year's get-together, the UK had said the earliest the citizenship issue would be addressed was summer, 2001. "There is some question of whether or not it will make it before the next general election.

"It is apparently not a controversial bill, the (opposition) Conservatives have indicated they are in favour of it, it is just the logistics of getting it through the House.'' London had also offered to train judges -- an issue of topical relevance for Bermuda which is undergoing a shortage.

But Ms Smith said her Government was already onto the issue: "We already announced last year that we would look at increasing the number of judges.''