Montpelier Re CEO Tony Taylor said on Friday that the company, which set up in late 2001, is not in Bermuda to make a quick buck.

The veteran insurer's comments - made during a panel discussion at last week's Hawksmere 17th International Reinsurance Congress - were made in response to moderator, Sarah Goddard, citing the money that came to the Island to back a wave of new start-ups as "opportunistic capital" and followed with a question to Mr. Taylor on how long was Montpelier was "going to stay here".

Mr. Taylor, who was was one of four market representatives taking part in the panel discussion on 'the reinsurance industry of the future', said for his company there was never any statement to that effect made by (those behind) the new capital, and that Montpelier's sights were set on a long-term stay in the local market.

Ms Goddard, the editor of 'Global Reinsurance', countered that the word in the market had been that backers of the new companies, were "taking advantage of an opportunity" and foresaw withdrawing from the market in fairly short time.

Mr. Taylor, who came to Bermuda to head the new venture after a long and illustrious career in the Lloyd's of London market, said that had never applied to Montpelier Re and added that if the company ever found itself unable to provide a return on capital or utilise all of the capital that had been invested, it would give it back to investors.

He affirmed that Montpelier saw itself as a long-term player in the Bermuda market, and depending on conditions, could be able to fully utilise its capital.

Montpelier was one of a wave of companies that set up in Bermuda after September 11, to take advantage of a sudden shortage in capacity and a spike in pricing. Other companies included Axis, AWAC, Arch, Endurance, DaVinci, GoshawK, Olympus and some time later, Endurance.

In a previous interview with The Royal Gazette Mr. Taylor not only confirmed that Montpelier had a long-term game plan, and that Bermuda was its base, but that it stood apart from the other new companies in that it hadn't set-up any overseas offices.

"What I would like to say to you is that of all the Bermuda start-ups, we are the only one that is dedicated to underwriting all its business with one office in Bermuda," said Mr Taylor.

"We haven't set up underwriting offices in London, and Dublin and in the US, we are just here."The company has said Bermuda is the place to be when it comes to this line of business and the company put its money where its mouth was when in May of last year it made an investment in yet another Bermuda start-up, Aspen Re.

Aspen was spun off from Wellington Underwriting Plc., the company that Mr. Taylor headed prior to coming to Bermuda.

When it was set up, Montpelier was backed with $1 billion in capital from various investors, $200 million of which was from White Mountains. The company went public year ago this month, with an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange that raised more than $200 million.