Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards says Government is "way too casual" about the need to make Bermuda's case as an insurance centre, amid rising rhetoric directed at offshore financial centres.

The United Bermuda Party MP's comments came after the Cayman Islands announced the creation of a nine-member international lobbying group to strengthen its lobbying effort with governments ahead of next month's G-20 summit.

Mr. Richards said some G-20 leaders may use the April 2 meeting to initiate sanctions against certain offshore jurisdictions.

And while Bermuda was not in the same category as the Caymans, "the rhetoric from some G-20 leaders in recent months carries the possibility that we may be bundled into their hit list of so-called tax havens", Mr. Richards warned.

"The important challenge for Bermuda is to ensure that these leaders understand Bermuda's insurance and reinsurance industry," Mr. Richards said. "We have an excellent case to make but we need to make it, particularly with US legislators.

"I am convinced that we are not doing enough to tell our story, and the longer we fail to do so the more we will be exposed to sanctions or punitive action.

"The Premier's recent statement that he is looking for office space in Washington suggests that the government is way too casual about the situation. We do not see any concrete action taking place and this is very disturbing.

"We don't need bricks and mortar, we need people developing and making the case that differentiates Bermuda from other offshore domiciles. This is a national imperative."The Caymans' Leader of Government Business, Kurt Tibbetts told the Cayman Compass that the G-20 summit could endorse a "blacklist" of offshore jurisdictions, and said government and business people need to counter widespread political perceptions. "We don't know what criteria will be used," he told the newspaper. "If logic were applied, we should be all right, but logic is not always applied. "If it were just the technical people, we would relax, but the facts are not always used. "If they [government leaders] are saying what is acceptable to their constituencies, then there will be no regard to the facts. We want to be sure the right message is getting out, that the facts are getting out, not just the rhetoric."