Shadow Finance Minister E.T. (Bob) Richards has expressed serious concerns about the growing list of companies leaving Bermuda in recent months.

Willis Group Holdings Ltd. was the latest Bermuda-domiciled firm to announce plans to move to Ireland, as reported in The Royal Gazette yesterday, following Ace Ltd., which moved its holding company from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland last year, and both Foster Wheeler and Weatherford International Ltd. as well as Warner Chilcott which switched their headquarters to Switzerland and Ireland respectively over the past nine months.

Tyco International, VistaPrint, Covidien, Accenture, Ingersoll-Rand, Cooper Industries Ltd. and Tyco Electronics have all approved proposals or are awaiting approval to relocate to Europe during the last year.

But Finance Minister Paula Cox said that Government was aware of the need to retain the fundamentals that have made Bermuda a successful financial centre and was working closely with industry stakeholders to identify changes to meet the needs of the global marketplace.

She added that often companies which had left the Island to set up headquarters elsewhere still retained offices and staff here, while other firms were moving in the other direction to register in Bermuda.

"In this case, when Willis was formed in 1828 it was a London company and listed first on the London Stock Exchange in 1976," she said.

"Then it migrated to Bermuda in 2001 ahead of a public offering in the US where it continues to trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

"The upshot is that it has had a history of moving and developing and that is the nature of today's dynamic market. The company has 400 offices in 120 countries, but has had a significant footprint in Ireland since 1903 and currently is the largest insurance broker in Ireland."

Ms Cox said that the Ministry of Finance's ongoing discussions with industry partners had revealed businesses were clear about Bermuda's strengths, including ease and speed of entry, talent pool, infrastructure, political and social stability, market brand, regulation and legislation, tax, licensing and distribution.

She pointed to the Island's significant role in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on tax matters, allied to its commitment to transparency and recognition by international decision makers, as well as the work it had done with representatives in Washington and the opening of an office on Capitol Hill this week, as examples of how Bermuda has been getting across the message of its importance to the global and US economies, as borne out in the findings of Bermuda International Business Association's 'US-Bermuda Economic Relations: Economic Impact Study 2009' and the Brattle Group's 'The Impact on the US Insurance Market of a Tax on Offshore Affiliate Reinsurance, An Economic Analysis'.

Ms Cox said any change in staffing levels as a result of companies redomiciling from the Island had not had a big impact on the country's workforce to date, but added the focus was on attracting new business with operations on the ground and providing the necessary resources and infrastructure to support it.

"Every country is experiencing a drop in their financial markets," she said. "Bermuda is no different and we cannot escape the impact of this financial crisis.

"However it is important to note that so far this year, some 638 new businesses (including insurance, investment holding, aircraft leasing, funds and management consulting companies) have set up in Bermuda with substantial capital. That is a better benchmark of the continued attractiveness of Bermuda."

She quoted Fitch Ratings, who confirmed Bermuda's investment grade rating of AA+ with a stable outlook, saying: 'The jurisdiction's well-established reputation as a domicile of choice for re/insurance and financial services companies provides a basis for sustainable growth'.

Mr. Richards said it was more worrying that Willis had cited the need for "a more stable environment" as the reason behind the planned move and urged Bermuda's Government to do all it could to tackle the issue and keep companies on the Island and out of the clutches of rival jurisdictions looking for their business.

"I think it is a matter of great concern," he said. "This is yet another one in a string of reported departures of international companies.

"Anecdotally or otherwise, it is clear that a number of lower profile companies are also leaving Bermuda."

Mr. Richards, who added that the trend of increasing number of companies departing Bermuda really hit home when a hedge fund which shared office space with his firm Bermuda Asset Management pulled out, albeit for a different reason, this week, said that a troubled political environment had not helped the Island's cause.

"We have had a fairly tempestuous year in terms of politics," he said.

"We have had abuse of power, public demonstrations and a bad external environment, in addition to the fact that I don't think we have had a lot of support in terms of immigration and term limit issues.

"I think they are all cumulative factors and with other countries bending over backwards to try and get the business and I don't know of any initiatives that are coming from this side to keep these businesses here.

"We have to understand that there are other countries out there that are actively trying to take business from us and if we don't actively try to keep those companies we are going to lose them."

He said that while a number of external factors such as the economic downturn were out of Bermuda's hands, the local environment was under its control as a country, Government and people.

"The reason Willis gave for the planned move was that it sought a more stable environment," he said.

"But if we are not providing a stable environment then we need to be very concerned and we need to find out what is unstable about it and do something about it.

"This has been going on for quite some time now, with Government saying it is not that bad, but we need to come to grips with it immediately."