General Business Roundtable
Hosted by:
Our panel discussed causes for optimism, collaboration between government and business and the importance of tourism to the local economy.
How would you rate business confidence on the Island at present?
Craig Bridgewater: There are both positive and negative factors being experienced and driving business confidence. I believe that we are reaching our bottom, and that there are some green shoots emerging but it’s going to take some time for those to be realised.
Being involved with the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA), we have worked really hard, particularly on the asset management sector, to get to key markets such as New York and London to have conversations about the Bermuda marketplace and it’s starting to take hold. When we were there last year there was an almost cold reception, but now we’re actually getting a warm welcome from people in these key markets.
Greg Wojciechowski: I differ a little from Craig’s perspective. Based on new business interest that we’re getting at the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) and developments that we’ve seen recently, I’d say general business confidence is improving. We are seeing more than just green shoots lately.
At the exchange nothing underscores confidence like direct foreign investment, and it’s public knowledge that a US asset manager just took a significant portion in the strategic ownership stake of the BSX. They wouldn’t have done that if they didn’t feel Bermuda had a solid platform and a future.
At the BSX we have worked hard to modernise Bermuda’s domestic capital market and its infrastructure, and the international business at the exchange has helped attract and support investor attention. We can’t discount the importance of that investment decision-making process, which is placed firmly on jurisdictional stability, the rule of law in the country, a solid regulatory framework, deep talent pool, and modern infrastructure.
This, coupled with Bermuda’s longevity in providing international business solutions to a global audience, our proximity to the US and Europe, and a government that places significance on the contribution of domestic and international business, has contributed to optimism and rising interest in the country.
Ross Webber: I’m cautiously optimistic, whereas I wasn’t 18 months to two years ago. There is an element of impatience with that cautious
optimism and everybody wants to see more uptick more quickly. I agree with Craig that we are nearing the bottom, but I’m not entirely convinced we are completely there yet. There’s still going to be a little bit more pain before we start to climb the slope back up again.
We have seen green shoots; we have seen a lot more serious interest in setting up real physical presence operations here in Bermuda. Greg’s example of the investment in the BSX is impressive, the recent investment by Mitsubishi is certainly worth a mention and we have several others in the pipeline. We’ve got about 18 months before realistically we start to feel less cautious about our optimism, but I am certainly more glass half full than glass teetering neutral.
Kiernan Bell: We are definitely seeing new businesses coming in, although not enough to show positive net job creation. In the short term, there’s still going to be some continuing shrinkage of the job market but I expect that to start turning around soon. The reason is that we are seeing increased entrepreneurial thinking, we are seeing businesses actively engaging with and looking at new business lines and starting to set them up, and that is exactly what we need.
We all know there’s a bit of a lead time around those events and the ultimate creation of jobs, so I feel pretty good as things currently stand.
Sean Smatt: From the bank’s perspective, we have the same sentiment of cautious optimism. We’ve certainly started to see some positive signs, with a few substantial projects commencing such as the renovation of the Hamilton Princess and the purchase of Pink Beach. While this is certainly encouraging, sentiment at a more local level is ultimately driven by people’s perception of their own security—their ability to pay bills and remain employed.
We are getting more enquiries from local businesses looking to finance various projects and growth. While not everything is coming to fruition this is indicative of a more positive outlook on the future.
Michael Collier: There are people who continue to suffer and haven’t taken the right steps to try and get around that. We are down roughly 6,000 people on the Island. We’ve lost an awful lot of talent, we have considerable availability of housing, and we have 1 million square feet of office space available. Now you can break that into various categories, but in terms of people coming in and setting up, housing, office space and infrastructure is not a problem.
67 Bermuda Finance | 2014
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