According to Cox, the Bermuda Finance Ministry's submission will aim to highlight the island's positive role as an international financial centre, and attempt to underscore the effectiveness of Bermuda's 'know your customer' rules and its ongoing commitment to improving its anti-money laundering regime.

"Government welcomes this opportunity to put out the good story that Bermuda merits in the global marketplace," she was quoted as announcing by Royal Gazette.

The Ministry of Finance is also inviting private sector partners to make similar submissions "highlighting additional points about their systems and processes that assist in sustaining Bermuda's reputation for probity and transparency in its business practices," Cox added.

"In this instance, Bermuda as a jurisdiction has an open opportunity to make a timely intervention that will underscore the enduring quality of our domicile as a premier international financial centre," she went on to observe.

The House of Commons Treasury Committee announced on 30th April that would to undertake an inquiry into offshore financial centres, their impact on global business and investment, and the international fight against money laundering.

The inquiry, the submission period of which closes on 19th June, 2008, forms part of the Committee's ongoing work into Financial Stability and Transparency. The inquiry is also focusing on the role that offshore territories play in UK tax policy, and the Treasury's ability to collect revenue.

The Treasury Committee's launch of the new inquiry was made shortly before the publication of a report by another parliamentary committee, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, which argued that the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is not doing enough to manage the risks arising from the UK's liability for the 14 Overseas Territories choosing to remain under British sovereignty, particularly in the area of financial regulation.