Artemis.bm, the Bermuda-based global risk portal on the Internet, has reported receiving more than 40,000 hits in July, up from 30,000 in June.

Artemis was launched at the one-day Bermuda Insurance Summit on Alternative Risk Transfer & Securitisation in mid-May by Rowan Douglas, managing director of Worldwide Intellectual Resources Exchange (WIRE).

The Artemis service had been previewed in Tokyo last November.

Artemis provides an online meeting point for the $10 billion alternative risk transfer (ART) and weather trading market.

Funded by onsite advertising, Artemis is starting to bring together risk managers, chief financial officers, service providers and traders in a "market space for ART''.

The initial emphasis is on liquidity of information and communication.

"For too long the market has been shrouded in mystery for those outside a select group and it lacked a place where everything and everyone ART was brought together,'' Mr. Douglas told The Royal Gazette in a telephone interview from England.

He and WIRE are based at the University of Sussex.

"Artemis has introduced an ART Product Directory to transparency for buyers.

"Swiss Re New Markets -- Beta, Gamma, Macro -- and AIG Finance (Storm) are dominating the table at present, and we invite others to display the fruits of their product development,'' Mr. Douglas said.

"Via the Internet, risk managers, chief financial officers and traders can enjoy much greater transparency to understand how ART techniques can be used and who is out there to help them,'' he added.

Sponsors who have joined Artemis in the last 60 days include XL Capital, Eversheds, RMS, Gerling Global Financial Products, AXA Re and Enterprise Re.

Access to www.artemis. bm is free.

The site is supported by sponsorship and advertising from the new sponsors and companies such as Chase Manhattan, Goldman Sachs, Aon Capital Markets, Moody's and Enron. The speed, scale and quality of support has been beyond our wildest expectations,said Mr. Douglas.

Artemis marks a further step for WIRE, which applies the Internet to risk-related professions and capital markets.

WIRE launched a similar portal, rsx.co.uk, for the traditional market in April.

Mr. Douglas said that he was extremely pleased with the rate at which Artemis is developing and argued that everyone will be a winner if the ART market continues to grow.

"Artemis is a global portal and Bermuda seemed the natural place to locate it, though much of the day-to-day administration will be undertaken at WIRE's offices in London and Brighton, UK,'' he said.