Collins: The issue about whether we have an appetite to lend or not is always out there. The real issue that isn’t often commented on is that in the local market there simply isn’t the number of mortgages. Demand has shrunk and so our lending appetite is still there, albeit slightly altered by loan/values and debt service coverage ratios.


We’re talking about small changes, more appropriate oversight from the BMA, keeping track of some of those ratios. The real issue is that there just isn’t demand and it’s also evident on the commercial side. There’s one or two office buildings being built and we’re financing them, but there aren’t hotels and given the period we’ve just come out of, particularly in a low interest rate environment, it will be tough. We will grow with the economy.


Truran: For Capital G to become Clarien as we have was really a natural event. Capital G was focused wholly on the Bermuda market, and we had a strong desire to grow into other markets, but the ability to do so without being connected is an extremely tough sell. The amalgamation created a number of opportunities. We now have a division solely dedicated to investment banking, for example.


As an institution we’re fairly unique in that perspective, and we want to make sure we take advantage of that in a sensible manner. What’s good for Bermuda and what’s good for the bank will be good for the community and for the shareholders. From an asset and wealth management perspective we have a significant desire to grow into areas that we are not in, and have not been focused on in the past, so with both those lines of business we’ve attracted some early talent. We’re punching above our weight class.


For Capital G to have tried to attract that talent, we would have had a difficult time, and so again it goes back to this natural evolution to diversify, so that we’re not focused just on Bermuda and that we did not face the concentration issues that we had in the past. That’s not to say we’re not focused on Bermuda—with all due respect to our competitors, we want to be the best bank in Bermuda.


56 Bermuda Finance | 2014


“If we are going to utilise our balance sheet it’s going to be in quality assets in order to optimise the capital that we have in the organisation.” Ian Truran


It’s what a competitive environment should strive to be, so if we all step up our game as I’m sure we all are we should be able to improve the quality of our service proposition.


Bridgewater: From a jurisdictional perspective, the fact that corporate transactions have been taking place recently fares well for Bermuda as a jurisdiction. We are seeing international investors coming into the banking sector which indicates that Bermuda is still an attractive place to do business. It also creates competition and hopefully that is going to benefit customers.


Competition should result in increased innovation, more products offered, and better services, resulting in Bermuda’s banking customers being better serviced.


In terms of technology and its significance, what do you see as the opportunities and the costs?


Whiley: To provide some background, the parent company of SS&C GlobeOp is SS&C Technologies, which licenses software for more than 70 products and services to the financial services sector. In the fund administration and outsourcing world, technology is being driven by regulation. Current examples are Form PF, FATCA and AIFMD where SS&C GlobeOp is a leading provider of software solutions.


The growth of outsourced services has been around the support of technology and the staff that use that technology leveraging it efficiently,


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