Captives are the hot topic at the Bermuda booth at the annual RIMS conference that opened today in Philadelphia.

Roger Gillett, president of ACE Risk Management International Ltd. and chairman of the Insurance Development Council suspects that the switch from Bermuda representatives promoting captives at the booth to increased queries from delegates is due to more people looking to use captives as a vehicle in their risk management program.

?It may be some of the uncertainties out there right now that are causing them to look for ways to get more control of their own destiny,? he said.

While Bermuda?s name has been tied to industry investigations of late, Mr. Gillett said the topic has not come up at the Bermuda booth.

?These issues we are talking about are worldwide reinsurance issues. They are not specific to Bermuda so there is nothing unique about Bermuda in this. Will people have some questions? I?m sure they will but I really feel that we and the Bermuda Monetary Authority are well equipped to answer questions.?

As per usual the Bermuda booth attracted queues of people waiting to pick up one of the 3500 brightly coloured Bermuda beach bags brought to Philadelphia for the booth.

Allison Towlson, chairman of the RIMS committee said: ?They are flying off. We can?t keep them stocked up at the moment and you see them everywhere.

?It is the bag to have at RIMS. It always have been so we have been successful in putting the Bermuda name out there on the bag.?

For the first time, some of the Island?s high-level executives are also spending time at the booth. President and CEO of ACE Bermuda Rees Fletcher, MaxRe president and CEO Robert J. Cooney, XL executive vice president Don Baker and Endurance executive vice president Thomas Bell have all committed an hour of their time to meet and greet delegates.

Ms. Towlson said: ?What we find is the high level executives don?t often get down to exhibit hall and to the booth. To encourage more dialogue and discussion with our leaders we have a posting where each will do an hour to allow more executives to come and meet our leaders in the industry.?

Besides the traditional Bermuda reception that takes place this evening, Bermuda is also promoting itself today at a session called Accessing the Bermuda Market-A Case Study.

The session offers a step-by-step guide for risk managers who are looking to do business in the Bermuda Market but are unsure of how to start the process.

The panel includes Andrea Dudek of Gap Inc., Henry Scully of Willis (Bermuda) Ltd andC. Jeffery Triplette Duke Energy Corporation.