Butterfield Bank has filed for a proposed initial public offering of up to $100 million to place its ordinary voting shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

It is to ask shareholders to vote on the proposal, which calls for a ten-for-one reverse share split, whereby existing shareholders will receive one share for every ten they presently hold.

The reverse share split is necessary to meet the NYSE listing rules that require securities to have an initial trading price of at least $4 per share.

The bank intends to keep its shares listed on The Royal Gazette/BSX Index in addition to the proposed New York listing.

A special general meeting of bank shareholders will be held at the Hamilton Princess on August 30, where two items linked to the proposed IPO will be presented and voted on.

In a statement, the bank said: “Under the terms of the Investment Agreement dated 2 March 2010 and entered into between affiliates of The Carlyle Group and the bank, the bank agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to list the bank’s ordinary shares on an international stock exchange within a specified time period.”