A Bermudian captive expert is “bullish” on Bermuda’s financial future.In a speech to Hamilton Rotarians yesterday, Cyril Whitter, president and CEO of captive consultancy Independent Management Ltd, said that while much was made of the Island’s economic woes, Bermuda remains “a major force on the world stage”.“We are, in 2012, home to 16 of the 35 largest reinsurers on the planet,” he said. “Whenever a catastrophe occurs anywhere in the world, the Bermuda commercial insurance market will respond.”He also praised the collection of talent here, including Bermudians, expatriates, local and international business, the Bermuda Monetary Authority and the Bermuda Government.“All of these forces gathered together, that collective power, is taking Bermuda and put it on the world stage,” he said.Mr Whitter is also the interim CEO of the Bermuda Business Development Corporation (BBDC) which is the organisation that is merging Business Bermuda and the Insurance Development Council, two groups that promote the Island’s marketplace abroad.“Despite the fact that we have gone through quite a dramatic challenge over the last four years, Bermuda is still a very, very strong country,” he told Rotarians. “The international sector is doing extremely well despite the challenges we see.”He added that the Island’s gross domestic product has dropped off “materially” over the last four years but that Bermuda still has a GDP in excess of $5 billion.Mr Whitter explained that the Island’s struggling local economy is not a Bermuda “phenomenon” but part of a larger, global issue.“What is occurring is the representation that we are not an island as it relates to economics or business,” said the captive expert, who has been in the business since the late 1970s. “Bermuda is intricately connected to the world economies around us. It is unreasonable to expect that somehow the other world economies, especially the US, could struggle in the way that they have and Bermuda can somehow be just fine. It’s an unrealistic expectation.”Mr Whitter added that the expatriate population in Bermuda is an important part of keeping the Island’s economy moving.“When we increase international business jobs, we will increase tax revenues and no matter where those jobs come from, they will have a massive impact on the rest of our country,” he said. “They (expatriates) will rent houses, buy cars, buy bikes, purchase groceries, clothing, go out to dinner in restaurants. If you were working for a gas station or the grocery store, your job just got a little bit more secure. Why? Because the international business engine ripples through our economy.”Mr Whitter added that fiscally, Bermuda is even more conservative than the most conservative party in the US.“I brag to my American clients about our tax system and argue that fiscally, even our Bermuda labour party is right to the Tea Party,” he said. “I celebrate the fact that I have never had to complete an income tax return and that I take home about 91 percent of my salary if you include my pension contribution.”Mr Whitter went on to explain that he felt the Bermuda Government did the right thing by way of not trimming civil servant jobs and continuing with capital expenditures over implementing austerity measures.“I’ve checked the numbers in the capital account and for the last three years, almost $300 million was spent out of the capital account,” he said. “I pondered the $800 million that was borrowed over the last four years and I made the judgment if they (Government) had not invested that would be have been negative for our economic development — the $300 million in capital expenditure and the jobs that came with that.“I made the judgment that keeping full-time employees as opposed to letting them go was probably the correct thing for the Government to do,” explaining that redundancies would mean people would potentially end up on financial assistance and the local economy would lose out on the financial activity that comes with people in full-time jobs.Though, Mr Whitter had praise for both the current and previous government saying that “over the last 30 years the Government of Bermuda has been looking out for us (international business sector) and massively supportive of my space,” he said. “We’re all working together towards one end to make sure Bermuda prospers.”