ISLE OF MAN FINANCE CENTRE SCORES DOUBLE AWARD SUCCESS

Douglas, Isle of Man, 27 May 2004 – The Isle of Man has scored the double, winning two major finance centre Awards this month - “Best International Financial Centre” at the International Investment Awards and “Best Offshore Financial Centre” at the International Money Marketing Awards. The Awards recognise the Isle of Man as a centre of excellence in the financial services industry and reaffirm its position as a leading global offshore centre.

In the category of “Best International Financial Centre”, the Isle of Man resisted strong competition from Guernsey and Gibraltar to retain the title for the fourth consecutive year. The Award was presented to the Hon. Allan Bell, Treasury Minister, at International Investment’s annual Offshore Forum held at the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel, London, on May 20th 2004.

The International Investment Offshore Fund & Product Awards recognise groups who distribute financial products on an international basis, as well as acknowledging the achievements of the global offshore financial services industry. The Isle of Man’s focus on retail products was deemed to give them the edge to gain the “Best International Financial Centre” Award, with the judging panel highlighting as the Island’s key winning attributes, commitment to target markets and its levels of service and support to distributors.

This success follows the Isle of Man being named “Best Offshore Financial Centre” at the 2004 International Money Marketing (IMM) Awards on May 6th. The Award recognises the Isle of Man as an offshore service provider that despite the challenging environment, has continued to demonstrate performance, innovation and leadership. With votes being cast by hundreds of IFAs responding to the 2004 Quantitative IFA Offshore Business Survey, the Award is a strong endorsement from the international intermediary community.

In addition to the success of the Isle of Man as a Centre, there were also Awards for a number of Isle of Man financial institutions - Royal Skandia, Axa, Canada Life and Gerrard Private Bank. Royal Skandia triumphed in six categories at the IMM Awards, including “Best Offshore Insurance Company” and “Best Offshore Provider of Savings Products”, as well as being highly commended in several categories at the International Investment Awards. Gerrard Private Bank shared in this success, picking up the Award for “Best Offshore Bank”.

Commenting on the achievements, Isle of Man Treasury Minister Allan Bell MHK said: “This dual acknowledgment of the Isle of Man as the best financial centre, recognises not only our strong performance and continued record for innovation, but also our standards of service both to advisers and their clients.

“The benefits to investors and savers of the Isle of Man have been further endorsed by the fantastic successes of Isle of Man based institutions in these Awards.”