Yesterday was the main day of the sixth annual IBC Global Life Insurance Forum, being held at the Fairmont Southampton Princess. This year's gathering, well attended by about 100 people from Bermuda and around the globe, covered the usual ground, but adopted an unusual approach. The main focus of the conference was a comparison between the advantages of different jurisdictions to those in the life insurance industry. Individual sessions, therefore, dealt with individual jurisdictions, a handful at a time. This was the "concept album" conference, harking back to the time when pop groups made entire records around a single theme. Bermuda's cut on this jurisdictional creation came at a mid-morning session, entitled "Legal Issues and Regulatory Developments in Bermuda and the Americas".

Forty-five minutes were allocated, meaning that we had four rapid-fire presentations in bullet format. E.C. (Ned) Jackson, of Appleby Spurling & Kempe, presented the Island's case. First, though, attendees heard an industry focus and regulatory review from David D. Whelehan, president and founder of AG. Transnational Ltd., of the British Virgin Islands.

Mr. Whelehan explained that insurance carriers need to expand their markets and acquire more high net worth clients. He cited a greater respect for international markets and broader distribution channels as changes the industry is experiencing. He also pointed out that competition was greater than ever, and that consolidation was likely. More complicated international tax implications are to be expected. Tax was the uncredited sub-text for much of the day.

More countries are adopting the American technique of taxing citizens on their world-wide income, Mr. Whelehan said, enhancing the opportunities for creative life insurance activities. He even raised the spectre of a day when "the US dollar is no longer king", without suggesting that the Bermuda dollar might take its place. In sum, Mr. Whelehan said, the industry faces more opportunities, more challenges and more regulatory issues. Mr. Jackson then briefly explained the advantages to life insurance companies of locating in Bermuda. The locals in the audience have heard the mantra before and so, one suspects, has everyone else in the global insurance industry. All together now: "natural beauty, strategic location, mid-Atlantic time zone, blue chip financial centre and ." unusually, confirmation that Bermuda is now the second largest reinsurance market in the world, after New York. Mr. Jackson must read this newspaper, which was the first to reveal this fact a few weeks ago.

Mr. Jackson made no mention of Bermuda's other advantages, such as cable television, two-hour delays for those arriving at the airport, the plan to forcibly deport all expatriates in just over three years, or any of the other fascinating local issues that would have had every conference delegate fleeing for the airport. While Mr. Jackson was proclaiming Bermuda the greatest territory in the world for insurance companies, observers had a chance to consider the panel in its entirety. Sitting on a raised dais, they resembled nothing so much as a Russian show trial jury from the 1950s. Cementing that impression was Brian T. Casey, a partner in law firm Lord, Bissell & Brock, who sported a bow tie.

"I'm an insurance law geek. I read the code every year. I enjoy the drudgery of the quarterly meetings of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)," Mr. Casey said bravely, by way of introduction. Anyone who has attended an NAIC meeting will confirm just what a geek Mr. Casey must be. Not even the Commissioners enjoy those deadly dull meetings.

Mr. Casey's topic was developments in US law. He recommended that delegates hoping to run offshore insurance companies "KISSO": not "keep it simple, stupid oaf", but "keep the insurance solicitation and sale offshore". KISSO is the minimum requirement of the US tax code for offshore companies.

Mr. Casey touched on HIPAA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, and the Patriot Act - and even OFAC, the US Office of Foreign Asset Control - but covered them at about that speed, so that you either already knew what he was talking about, or you were lost. The afternoon sessions allowed questions and were the livelier for it.

The final panellist was Fernando Ruiz, a partner in Mexican law firm Chevez, Ruiz, Zamarippa y Cia, S.C. Senor Ruiz ran down the Mexican situation for us, which was relevant, he said, because so much of South America looks to Mexico as a model in insurance matters.

The majority of Senor Ruiz's presentation was given over to recent developments in defining taxable benefits arising from insurance, and at one point he showed just how liberal they are south of the border. Exempt beneficiaries under insurance policies include one's spouse or concubine. He probably didn't mean concubine. The word's primary meaning, in polygamous societies, is "a secondary wife, usually of a lower rank". Unless bigamy is more widespread than one imagines in Mexico, he probably meant what the British call a POSSLQ, a "person of the opposite sex sharing living quarters". The Europeans are about to change that, though, to PASSLQ, with "any" replacing "opposite".

KISSO the concubines and Stalinist thought trials: one could not help but wonder whether, had the presentations been a little more focussed, greater value might have been derived from the session.