Bermuda Commercial Bank yesterday named Bermudian Horst Finkbeiner II as its new chief operating officer, succeeding Dominique Smith, whose retirement was announced last Friday.

Ms Smith had worked for BCB for more than 12 years and was appointed COO in October 2006.

BCB president John Sainsbury said: "We thank Dominique for her years of faithful service to the bank and look forward to Horst continuing in our tradition of leadership and success." Mr. Finkbeiner has 20 years of experience that includes banking, hedge funds and data processing.

For the past two years he was the BCB's chief compliance officer. Prior to that he held senior positions as head of operations and risk for TransWorld Payment Solutions, managing director for Fenris Holdings NV, general manager of ProServe Bermuda Ltd., and senior manager of banking operations at Butterfield Bank.

Mr. Finkbeiner said he planned to "continue to build on the strong foundation of the business", and expressed confidence in a smooth transition due to a gradual transfer of duties from Ms Smith that has been taking place in recent months.